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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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SEPTENARY  MAN: 

OR, 

The  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm. 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  HUMAN  SOUL 

In  Relation  to  the  Various  Vehicles,  or  Avenues,  of  Consciousness, 

(Technically  Known  as  the  Seven  Principles)  by  Means  of 

which  it  Brings  Itself  into  Relation  with  the  Outer 

Cosmos;    Including  a  Brief  Examination  of 

Dream  and  the  Problems  of  Heredity. 


BY 


JEROME  A.  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  F.  T.  S. 


The  Universe  is  composed  of  "the  Same"  and  "the  Other."   Plato. 


THE  LOTUS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
1170  Market  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

The  Path  Office,  144  Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


December  25,  1895. 


4 


COPYRIGHT,    1895, 
BY    JEROME    A.    ANDERSON, 

1170  Market  Street, 
S  \n  Francisco,  California. 


-7 

£13 


©educated    tqQ 


BY    A.    GRATEFUL,    STUDENT. 


PREFACE. 

TN  ISSUING  this  brief  examination  of  the  septenary  classification  of  man's 
■*■  nature,  the  writer  especially  disclaims  any  authority  for  any  statements 
contained  therein  other  than  as  these  appear  reasonable,  and  as  they  seem  to 
fit  into  and  fill  out  vacant  places  in  the  theosophic  philosophy.  It  is  simply 
the  work  of  an  humble  student,  issued  with  the  hope  that  it  may  assist  fellow 
students. 

The  subject  has  been  treated  from  the  same  standpoint  as  the  writer's  book 
upon  Reincarnation.  That  is,  the  seven  Principles  of  man  have  been  studied 
from  their  scientific  aspect  solely.  No  proofs  have  been  advanced  except 
those  capable  of  scientific  demonstration.  This  scientific  demonstration,  of 
course,  recognizes  that  logic,  philosophy,  and  reason  afford  the  very  highest 
proof  of  which  any  metaphysical  problem  is  capable.  It  has  also  been  held 
that,  where  other  more  direct  proofs  seemed  wanting,  analogy  might  be  applied 
without  warranting  any  charge  of  dogmatic  assertion,  and  that  the  laws  gov- 
erning matter  and  force,  and  the  aspects  of  consciousness,  upon  one  plane  of 
the  Cosmos  might  be  reasonably  carried  over  into  other  planes .  Therefore, 
when  dealing  with  such  abstruse  metaphysical  problems  as  Atma,  Buddhi,  or 
Prana,  for  example,  the  proofs  of  their  existence  and  nature  must  of  necessity 
lie  largely  along  philosophical  and  logical  lines,  while  the  more  material  Prin- 
ciples, as  the  Linga  Sharira,  together  with  some  aspects  of  Kama  and  Manas, 
have  been  studied,  and  their  nature  deduced  from  their  observed  behavior 
upon  this,  the  molecular,  plane  of  the  Universe. 

The  writer  makes  no  claim  to  that  intuitional  perception  which  grasps  truth 

without  the  necessity  of  logical  analysis.     He  can  only  grope  along  the  paths 

of  analogy  and  reason.      Therefore,  while  admitting  the  work  of  intuitional 

writers  to  be  much  more  valuable,  he  still  believes  there  is  a  large  class  of 

his  fellow  students  who,  like  himself,  must  perforce  adopt  the  lower  method, 

and  to  such  it  is  hoped  the  book  will  appeal;  and  also  that  it  may  be  of  some 

service  to  the  great  cause  we  all  serve — Humanity. 

J.  A.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Man,  the  Microcosm. — An  Old  Teaching — Nature  of  the  Macrocosm — 
Spirit  and  Matter — Vehicles  of  the  One  Consciousness — Seven  Great 
Divisions — Dominant  Vibration  Constitutes  a  "Round" — Sold  Spe- 
cially Related  to  a  Particular  Hierarchy  during  a  Round,  Nature  of 
Incarnation,   etc 9 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Body. — All  "Bodies"  must  Correspond  to  the  "Matter"  of  any  par- 
ticular Round — The  Pathway  to  Form  and  Incarnation — Senses  not 
in  the  Physical  Body,  Proofs — Cycles  Governing  Incarnation — Latent 
Force,  What — Hierarchies  of  Builders — Compound  Source  of  Bodily 
Entities,  etc 27 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  I/INGA  Sharira. — Composed  of  Third  Round  Matter — Plastic  un- 
der Thought — Theory  of  Emanations — Source  of  Linga  Sharira,  its 
Functions  and  Fate — Cause  of  all  Form — Preserver  of  Species — "Seance 
Phenomena,"  etc 40 

CHAPTER  III. 

Prana. — Universal  Principle — Manifested  Jiva — Relation  to  the  Soul  and 
Body — "Fiery  Lives" — Monads — Cycles  of   Life,  etc 52 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Kama. — Consciousness  in  the  State  of  Desire — Source  of — Nature  of — 
Relation  to  Thought — Individualizing  Effect  of  Kama — Animal  De- 
sire— Relation  of  Instinct  to  Desire  and  to  Intuition — A  Human  Ele- 
mental Synthesizes  the  Body — Nature  of  this  Elemental — A  Glimpse 
of  Man's  Microcosm — The  Effect  of  Death — Reincarnation  of  the  Per- 
sonality, How,  Why — Effect  of  Suicide,   Accident,  etc 63 

CHAPTER  V. 

Lower  Manas. — The  True  Soul  Seeking  to  Express  Itself  in  Molecular 
Matter — The  Two  Forces  in  each  Human  Breast — The  Nature  of  Incar- 
nation— Magnetism  Imparted  to  Non-Magnetic  Iron — The  Conserver 
of  One  Life's  Experiences — Cycle  of  Conscious  Life  Terminates  with 
Devachan — Conflict  of  Manas  with  Kama — Loss  of  the  Soul,  etc 74 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Higher  Manas. — The  Thinking  Principle — Nature  of— Powers  of— 
Immortality  of— Compassionate  Mission  of— Divine  Potencies  and  Po- 
tentialities— "Mind  Born  Sons" — Emanation  or  Fission  a  Process  of 
Generation  upon  all  Planes  of  Nature,  etc ^4 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Higher  Triad — Atma,  Buddhi,  and  Manas. — Metaphysical  Dif- 
ficulties in  their  Conception — Nature  of  Atma — "The  Emanating  Spark 
of  the  Uncreated  Ray" — Nature  of   Buddhi — Store  House  of   Cosmic 
Wisdom — Giver  of  True  Immortality,  etc 95 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Dreaming  Self. — Nature  and  Importance  of  Dream — Key  to  Inner 
Conditions  afforded  by— An  Entity  Who  Dreams  Each  Dream,  etc 104 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Problems  of  Heredity.— Absurdity  of  Materialistic  Hypotheses — 
The  Differing  Streams  of  Heredity— Physical,  Mental,  and  Spiritual- 
All  Inheritance  Proceeds  Under  the  Daw  of  Cause  and  Effect— Rela- 
tion of  the  Unit,  Man,  to  Humanity  as  a  Whole,  or  Racial,  National, 
and  Family  Heredity— Man  the  Arbiter  of  his  Own  Destiny,  etc 114 


INTRODUCTION. 


MAN,   THE    MICROCOSM. 


IN  THE  days  when  religion,  science,  and  philosophy  were  but 
differing  aspects  of  Theosophy,  or  "God-Wisdom,"  all  united 
in  recognizing  in  man  a  compound,  or  complex,  nature.  Thus, 
Brahmanism,  or  more  correctly,  the  Vedantin  schools  of  Brah- 
manism,  held,  and  still  holds,  that  he  has  at  least  four  or  five  Prin- 
ciples, or  vehicles  of  consciousness,  entering  into  his  composition. 
Buddhism  recognizes  seven;  Confucianism,  five;  Gnosticism, 
seven;  the  Kabala,  seven;  and  Christianity,  three.  The  same 
teaching  can  be  very  clearly  verified  in  the  old  Egyptian  symbol- 
ogy,  and  in  the  earlier  as  well  as  the  later  Greek  philosophy, 
particularly  in  Neo-Platonism.  While  testimony  can  never  have 
the  weight  of  evidence,  still,  where  it  assumes  the  universal  char- 
acter which  this  teaching  has  had  in  all  ages  of  the  world's  history, 
it  really  ceases  to  be  merely  testimony,  and  approximates  very 
closely  to  the  standard  of  evidence.  That  man,  because  of  his 
complex  yet  divine  nature,  is  the  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm,  or 
Cosmos,  has  been  a  semi-esoteric  teaching  for  ages.  It  was  implied 
in  the  old  Grecian  exhortation,  "  Man,  Know  Thyself,"  meaning 
that  within  his  own  being  was  to  be  found  the  key  to  the  mys- 
teries of  the  universe  about  him.  Later,  the  same  half-veiled  truth 
appears  in  the  Hermetic  and  Rosicrucian  maxim,  "  As  above,  so 
below."  It  is  now,  and  perhaps  for  the  first  time  for  ages,  made 
entirely  exoteric,  and  explained  to  the  whole  world  as  one  of  the 
chief  of  the  philosophical  concepts  of  Theosophy,  under  the  popu- 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

lar  as  well  as  technical  term,  "The  Seven  Principles  of  Man."* 
It  must  not  be  understood  that  man  is  now  actually  the  Micro- 
cosm of  the  Macrocosm.  He  is  only  potentially  so.  Within  his 
being  reside,  in  potentia,  all  the  potencies  in  the  manifested  uni- 
verse about  him;  but  not  in  actu,  except  as  he  shall,  by  his  own 
will,  realize  them.  The  importance,  therefore,  of  the  recognition 
of  this  awe-inspiring  fact  becomes  at  once  apparent,  as  well  as  the 
potent  factor  the  knowledge  of  it  must  prove  in  stimulating  spirit- 
ual development. 

If  man  be,  then,  the  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm,  what  is  the 
nature  of  that  Macrocosm?  for  the  assertion  of  a  comparison  im- 
plies and,  indeed,  necessitates  at  least  partial  sameness  or  equal- 
ity, else  there  can  be  nothing  to  compare.  Without  attempting 
to  answer  that  which  is  unanswerable,  or  to  deal  with  the  Un- 
knowable Source  from  which  all  finite  being  must  have  emanated, 
the  teaching  of  the  Wisdom  Religion  in  regard  to  this  is,  that  all 
the  infinite  diversity  of  the  manifested  universe  arose  out  of,  or 
rather  within,  Absolute  Unity,  which  thus  assumes  the  relation  to 
the  cosmos  of  a  Causeless  Cause — a  Cause  which,  while  it  is  of 
necessity  the  basis  of  all  manifested  life,  remains  itself  ever  un- 
manifested;  untouched  in  its  absolute  essence  by  all  the  great 
differentiation  which  arises  within  it,  and  which  constitutes  the 
finite  universe.  At  the  primal  appearance  of  finite  manifestation, 
there  appear  two  great  aspects  of  this  Absolute  Unity,  termed 
respectively  Spirit  and  Matter;  these  two  being  in  reality  but 
opposite  poles,  or  modes  of  expression,  of  the  One  Unity.  Thus, 
behind  all  manifestation  lies  the  ever-concealed   Causeless   Cause; 

*These  seven    Principles  will  be  fully  discussed  as  we  proceed,  but  for  present  use  they 
may  be  enumerated  as  : 

Sanscrit  Terms.  English  Equivalents  (approximately). 

Sthula  Sharira The  Body. 

Linga  Sharira Astral  Body. 

prana Vitality . 

Kama. .]  Animal  Soul  (Desire). 

Manas.'.".".'.".*.*.'.'.".*.".'.".".*.". . . . Human  Soul  (Thought). 

Bu  dhi .*.".  '..'... Spiritual  Soul  (Intuition). 

Atma  or  Jiva Spirit. 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

and  all  that  which  we  perceive  and  conceive  as  the  manifested  uni- 
verse is  simply  the  illusory — because  the  finite  cannot  measure 
nor  comprehend  the  infinite — aspects  of  this  Causeless  Cause, 
projected  in  time  and  space  like  shadows  from  a  magic-lantern, 
and  quite  as  unreal  in  that  they  are  not  themselves  the  real  things 
which  they  thus  seem.  But  even  shadows  must  have  something 
real  to  cause  them,  so  that  though  the  manifested  universe, 
owing  to  our  finite  capacities,  must  remain  for  us  a  shadow  and  a 
type,  it  rests  of  necessity  upon  a  real  basis  of  Infinite  Being. 

Of  these  two  Primal  Aspects,  then,  one  appears  to  us  as  spirit, 
or  consciousness;  the  other,  as  matter;  and  once  the  two  pass 
into  finite  manifestation  their  action  and  reaction  reveal  a  third 
great  absolute  aspect,  which  appears  as  motion,  or  force.  It  is 
further  taught  that  spirit  and  matter  mutually  limit  each  other — 
that  spirit,  or  one  pole  of  this  manifestation  of  the  Causeless 
Cause,  becomes  knowable  to  us  by  means  of  the  limitations  of 
matter;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  matter  also  becomes  knowable, 
or  manifested  to  us,  by  means  of  the  action  of  spirit;  the  two 
being,  as  we  have  seen,  but  aspects  of  the  same  Unknowable 
Unity;  that  which  appears  to  us  as  matter  including  in  its  essence 
spirit;  that  which  seems  to  us  spirit  including  in  its  essence  matter. 

Tb.2  universe,  then,  may  be  said  to  be  composed  of  matter  and 
of  spirit,  each  causing  the  other  to  manifest  in  an  infinite  diver- 
sity, and  which  manifested  diversity  constitutes  the  Macrocosm. 
This,  therefore,  consists  from  its  conscious  aspect  of  infinite  states 
of  consciousness;  the  entire  universe  thus  being  but  embodied, 
or  matter-limited,  consciousness.  In  other  words,  the  spiritual 
or  conscious-aspect  of  nature,  being  limited  by  the  material 
aspect,  causes  the  appearance  of  form;  while  form,  assuming  intelli- 
gent adaptations  to  environment,  betrays  the  indwelling  spirit  or 
consciousness.  The  expression  of  higher,  more  perfect,  and  less 
material  forms,  would  seem  to  constitute  the  process  of  evolution, 
as  the  consequent  widening  of  the  conscious  area  through  such 
experiences,  until  infinite  consciousness  is  again  reached,  would 
appear  to  be  its  motive. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

It  is  evident,  also,  that  a  study  of  man  as  the  Microcosm  of  the 
great  Macrocosm  involves  and  implies  the  recognition  within 
him,  and  the  examination,  of  all  states  of  consciousness,  from 
those  which  are  classed  as  the  most  grossly  material  to  those  of 
the  highest  conceivable  spirituality.  A  careful  analysis,  however, 
reduces  these  infinite  potencies  and  potentialities  to  seven  great 
divisions,  which  in  man  are  classed  as  Principles,  and,  in  the  cos- 
mos as  Hierarchies.  From  the  standpoint  of  consciousness, 
these  Principles  become  merely  more  or  less  material  vehicles  of 
consciousness  for  its  limiting  to  one  or  other  of  the  great  hier- 
archical cosmic  planes.  For  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  iterated 
that  matter  limits  consciousness  always,  and  that,  for  this  reason, 
though  a  Principle  be  a  vehicle  as  regards  a  particular  plane  or 
Hierarchy  of  cosmos,  it  is  a  hindrance  or  obstacle  in  regard  to 
all  other  states  or  planes.  A  human  Principle  must,  therefore, 
be  regarded  as  limiting  the  human  consciousness  to  a  particular 
plane,  just  as  the  human  soul  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  (poten- 
tial) center  of  infinite  consciousness,  limited  by  material  vehicles 
which  it  is  striving  to  overcome,  one  by  one,  as  it  journeys 
through  its  evolutionary  Cycle  of  Necessity  back  to  its  Source. 

It  seems  necessary,  then,  in  dealing  with  these  vehicles  of 
consciousness  in  man,  to  approach  their  study  from  their  material 
aspect,  because  Principles,  or  states  of  consciousness,  seem  most 
conceivable,  or  at  least  most  easily  explained,  when  looked  at 
through  their  limiting  vehicles.  By  this  method,  too,  if  unable  to 
explain  them,  we  at  least  state  the  problems  involved  in  finite 
terms. 

The  teaching  is,  then,  that  consciousness  throughout  the  uni- 
verse may  be  divided  into  seven  great  states;  a  teaching  which 
even  modern  material  science  corroborates  in  its  recognition  of 
matter  in  seven  differing  conditions.  These  conditions  or  states 
represent:  I,  the  homogeneous;  2,  the  "radiant"  matter  of  Pro- 
fessor Crookes;  3,  curd-like  or  nebulous  matter,  as  manifested 
in  the  nebulae  in  the  heavens;  4,  "atomic"  matter,  or  the  begin- 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

ning  of  differentiation;  5,  the  germinal  or  fiery  state,  in  which 
the  differing  elements  we  now  recognize  under  the  aspects  of 
air,  water,  fire,  and  earth  are  beginning  to  assume  their  future 
properties;  6,  astral,  or  ethereal  matter;  and,  7,  earthy,  molecular 
matter,  or  the  present  condition  of  the  matter  of  this  planet  in  its 
cold,  dead  aspect  of  dependency  upon  the  sun  for  life  and  vitality. 
Recognizing  that  all  forms  of  matter  are  caused  by  and  asso- 
ciated with  corresponding  states  of  consciousness,  if  these  forms 
of  matter  thus  associated  with  our  solar  system  be  related  to  its 
states  of  consciousness,  the  following  correspondences  are  at  least 
permissible — premising  that  the  correspondence  only  indicates 
the  action  of  a  certain  Hierarchy  of  cosmic  consciousness  as 
limited  by  the  material  conditions  of  our  own  solar  system,  and 
not*  that  this  approaches  the  state  of  the  same  consciousness  not 
so  inhibited,  or  limited.  Matter  in  its  homogeneous  condition  cor-^ 
responds  to  Jiva,  or  Atma,*  or  Unmanifested  life — a  state  too  near 
the  infinite  to  be  comprehensible  by  finite  beings.  The  "radiant" 
state  of  matter  may  be  compared  to  Buddhicf  consciousness,  or 
pure  consciousness,  which  knows  without  reasoning.  Nebulous 
matter,  again,  is  related  to  MahaticJ  consciousness,  or  that  of 
thought.  In  the  matter  of  the  nebulae  is  the  prophesy  and 
potency  of  the  future  worlds  and  their  varied  conscious  beings,  of 
which  the  nebulae  are  thus  the  Mahatic,  or  prophetic,  thought. 
Atomic,  or  differentiated,  matter  corresponds  to  the  Fohatic  state 
of  consciousness,  for  Fohat§  is  essentially  "desire,"  and  desire  for 
union  in  this  atomic  state  results  in  the  molecular  aggregations 
which  make  physical  forms  possible.  Again,  the  germinal,  or 
fiery,  condition  of  matter  corresponds  to  Prana,  or  manifested 
Life,  as  contrasted  with  the  unmanifested,  unknowable,  or  Jivic, 
aspect  of  Life.     Astral  matter  corresponds  to  all  the  mysterious 

♦The  universal  source  of  the  Jiva,  or  Atman,  of  man's  seventh  Principle. 

fBuddhi — the  hierarchal  source  of  the  sixth  human  Principle. 

JMahat — "the  Great  One."  Hierarchal  source  of  man's  Thinking  Principle — Manas. 
The    'Over-SouT'  (in  one  aspect). 

§Fohat— cosmic  electricity,  or  "  nerve  fluid,"  (in  one  aspect).  The  universal  source  of  the 
fourth  Principle  in  man,  Kama,  or  desire.     Cosmic  will-desire. 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

states  of  reflected  consciousness,  of  which  the  phenomena  of  hyp- 
notism, trance,  clairvoyance,  etc.,  arc  illustrations.  All  such  are 
examples  of  consciousness  not  normal  to  any  given  plane,  but 
reflected  from  above  or  below.  Earthy,  or  molecular,  matter 
corresponds  to  physical,  or  sense,  consciousness,  or  that  of  time, 
space,  and  form,  as  they  arise  in  consciousness  through  the  physi- 
cal senses. 

Thus,  by  means  of  these  correspondences  may  be  obtained  a 
glimpse,  or  faint  idea,  of  the  seven  great  hierarchal  states  of 
consciousness,  out  of  which  arise  man's  seven  Principles,  or  those 
states  of  consciousness  in  the  Microcosm  which  correspond  to  the 
Seven  Hierarchies  in  the  Macrocosm.  All  differing  conditions 
of  matter  appear  to  arise  through  differing  rates  of  vibration,  and 
Prof.  Crookes,  in  his  "Genesis  of  the  Elements,"  has  pictured  a 
way  in  which  it  is  possible,  through  changes  of  vibration,  for  mat- 
ter to  assume  infinitely  differing  properties,  and  thus  become  a 
vehicle  for  infinitely  differing  states  of  consciousness.  To  illus- 
trate : 

Let  us  suppose  a  nebulous  mass,  or  fire-mist,  occupying  an  im- 
mense area  in  space,  and  having  a  certain  definite  vibration. 
The  slightest  change  in  this  vibration  would  cause  matter  to  ap- 
pear, within  the  original  fire-mist  matter,  with  entirely  new  prop- 
erties, and  bring  the  whole  mass  more  definitely  under  the 
action  of  "gravitation"  (molecular  attraction,  wrongly  termed 
"  molar  "  by  scientists).  Tending  towards  a  common  "  laya,"  or 
neutral  center,  it  would  constantly  assume  differing  qualities, 
and  take  on  differing  and  continually  lower  vibrations,  through 
all  the  stages  of  a  condensing,  by  an  apparently  mechanical  pro- 
cess, into  a  world.  And  as  each  downward  change  involves  an 
increasing  limitation  of  consciousness,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  in- 
creasingly "  material"  human,  as  well  as  a  nature,  Principles  arise. 
It  is  also  easy  to  see  that  the  whole  process  may  be  a  deliberate 
and  voluntary  descent,  or  changing  of  spiritual  into  material  con- 
ditions, by  beings  seeking  widening  consciousness  through  pass- 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

ing  from  pole  to  pole  of  the  spiritual  and  material  aspects  of 
the  Absolute — these  being  the  necessary  horizons  of  all  finite 
Intelligences,  however  high  or  holy.  This  descent  would  repre- 
sent the  involution  arc  of  the  great  cycle  of  Being,  while  the 
ascent  out  of  material  conditions  would  constitute  that  which 
modern  science  partially  recognizes  in  its  incomplete  theory  of 
evolution. 

But,  aside  from  metaphysical  generalizations,  Prof.  Crookes 
has  shown  the  important  part  which  simple  changes  of  vibration 
in  the  same  substance  must  play  ;  and  he  has  constructed  a  most 
ingenious  diagram  to  illustrate  the  action  of  time,  space,  and  tem- 
perature in  producing  new  "  elements"  by  these  agents,  through 
the  modifications  of  the  old.  The  point  of  interest  in  relation  to 
the  septenary  cosmos  and  Microcosm  is  that  he  supposes  a 
series  of  fourteen  elements  to  have  been  produced  by  cycles  of 
electrical  currents,  thus  exactly  duplicating  the  Brahmanical  four- 
teen Lokas,  or  two  aspects  (divine  and  terrestrial)  of  each  of  the 
seven  Hierarchies.  He  then  makes  among  these  groupings  seven 
"dominant  atomicities,"  again  unconsciously  following  Occultism 
in  his  methods.  His  diagram  of  a  lemniscate  figure  also  shows 
how  much  the  ancients  knew  in  regard  to  those  things  of  which 
we  conceive  them  to  have  been  so  ignorant,  for  it  is  almost  a  re- 
plica of  one  of  the  oldest  symbols  known — the  Greek  Caduceus. 
This  consists  of  two  serpents  twined  about  a  common  staff,  cross- 
ing each  other  in  the  manner  of  a  lemniscate.  He  supposes  a 
series  of  differing  elements,  arising  through  the  pressure  of  mat- 
ter in  a  centripetal  direction  in  the  condensation  of  the  original 
fire-mist,  and  from  these  at  differing  cycles  of  that  condensation 
would  be  produced  a  new  series  of  elements.  That  is  to  say, 
that  the  ripple  of  vibration  in  the  fire-mist  form  of  matter  would, 
as  it  tends  centripetally  during  a  certain  cycle,  produce  a  certain 
series  of  elements.  Another  electrical  cycle,  temperature  having 
changed,  would  produce  a  series  of  elements  nearly,  but  not 
exactly,  like  the  first. 


Xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

In  his  illustration  Prof.  Crookes  shows  that,  supposing  the 
first  great  cycle  to  have  produced  fourteen  elements,  then,  in  re- 
peating that  cycle  with  a  lower  temperature,  at  each  point  at 
which  an  original  element  was  generated  one  corresponding  in 
all  its  original  attributes  would  be  produced.  Thus,  the  first  four- 
teen elements  being  lithium,  beryllium,  boron,  carbon,  nitrogen, 
oxvgen,  fluorine,  sodium,  magnesium,  aluminum,  silicon,  phos- 
phorus, sulphur  and  chlorine,  the  first  of  the  second  cycle  would 
be  potassium,  which  is  the  "lineal  descendant  "  of  lithium,  and  so 
on,  down  through  a  series  which  comprises  seven  of  these  "lineal 
descendants,"  for  each  of  the  original  fourteen  elements. 

From  the  mechanical  aspect  of  manifestation,  the  universe  is 
produced  solely  by  modifications  in  the  eternal  motion  resulting 
from  the  action  of  spirit  upon  matter — a  theory  which,  in  the 
East,  is  beautifully  and  poetically  symbolized  in  the  "  Great 
Breath"  of  Vedantin  philosophy.  These  modifications  are  orderly, 
as  they  must  needs  be  in  a  law-governed  cosmos,  and,  while  cov- 
ering vast  and  unrealizable  abysses  of  time,  have  yet  been  made 
the  subject  of  mathematical  speculation. 

The  time  in  which  a  key-note  or  dominant  mode  of  vibration 
maintains  itself  throughout  a  planetary  mass  is  denominated,  in 
theosophical  nomenclature,  a  "  Round."  During  this  period  the 
"  matter"  of  the  planet,  even  to  the  most  ethereal  of  its  seven 
"  Globes,"*  or  planes  of  matter  and  states  of  consciousness,  assumes 
characteristics  determined  by  the  dominant  vibration;  and  while 
it  persists  the  Ego,  or  soul,  has  to  undergo  and  assimilate  all 
experiences  possible  under  these  conditions.  Then  the  dominant 
vibration  will  change,  new  forms  of  matter  and  new  material 
experiences  being  thus  provided  to  permit  of  an  ever  widening  of 
the  conscious  area  of  the  Ego,  passing  through  its  complete  cycle 
of  evolution.     In  the  downward  arc,   or  involution  into  material 

*The  earth  has  likewise  its  seven  Principles,  corresponding  to  those  of  man.  The  states  of 
matter,  force,  and  con>ciousness  which  collectively  form  each  of  these  Principles  is  technically 
termed  a  "globe,"  while  a  "round"  is  the  time  required  for  the  soul  to  pass  through  each 
of  the  entire  seven.  For  a  full  explanation  of  "  globes"  and  "rounds,"  see  the  Secret  Doc- 
trine, and  other  theosophical  works. 


INTRODUCTION.  XVli 

states,  each  successive  cycle  of  vibration  becomes  more  material — 
that  is  to  say,  the  substance-aspect  of  the  Unknowable  pre- 
ponderates more  and  more  in  proportion.  But  a  limit  must 
eventually  be  reached,  because  this  is  a  finite  process,  and  The- 
osophy  teaches  that  this  limit  has  been  reached  in  the  present 
Fourth,  or  molecular,  Round  of  this  earth,  and  that  when  the 
next  hour  shall  strike,  and  the  dominant  vibration  change,  entities 
upon  the  earth  will  retrace  the  process  of  their  involution  into 
matter,  and  regain  their  former  astral  consciousness,  with  self- 
consciousness  added  thereto.  Indeed,  this  process  is  already 
under  way,  and  even  the  earth  itself  has  been  becoming  less 
"material"  since  the  midway  point  of  this  Round  was  reached 
some  millions  of  years  since. 

This  earth,  therefore,  is  now  in  a  condition  of  molecular  vibra- 
tion, and  in  its  fourth,  or  kamic,  or  desire,  Round,  which  Round 
will  last  so  long  as  the  "  life"  wave  or  impulse  has  its  activity  in 
molecular  matter;  for  the  monadic  or  Dhyan-Chohanic  impulse 
which  constitutes  this  life-wave  passes  from  globe  to  globe,  arous- 
ing each  to  activity  and  leaving  it  comparatively  dead,  or  in  its 
"  pralaya,"  much  as  a  circling  rainstorm  might  pass  from  point  to 
point  over  a  sea,  arousing  and  churning  into  a  furious  but  tran- 
sient activity  each  successive  portion  over  which  it  passes,  and 
leaving  it  cc  mparatively  in  statu  quo  until  it  returns.  But  the 
duration  of  each  dominant  mode  of  vibration  covers  an  immense 
cycle  of  time,  and,  in  Brahmanical  literature,  is  called  a  Day  of 
Brahma,  and  is  a  period  involving  some  4,320  millions  of  years. 
This  is  the  astronomical  period  required  for  all  the  planets  of  our 
system  to  be  in  conjunction ;  an  event  which  may  well  produce  even 
physical  causes  sufficient  to  terminate  or  entirely  change  the  condi-\ 
tion  of  physical  existence  on  one  or  more  planets.  This  cycle 
will  comprise  the  duration  of  this  world  in  its  present  state,  before 
it  goes  into  pralaya,  or  changes  the  present  for  another  rate  of 
vibration,  which  will  constitute  another  Round. 

The  Theosophic  classification  of  men  into  seven  great  Races 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

during  each  of  the  seven  Rounds,  or  differing  material  states  of 
the  earth,  is  another  recognition  of  the  fact  that,  in  our  present 
universe,  the  number  seven  is  the  dominant  one  for  its  entire 
duration.  It  must  not  be  understood  that  during  any  particular 
Round  only  one  mode  of  vibration  is  present.  At  least  those  of 
each  of  the  Seven  creative  Hierarchies  are  all  in  activity,  for  these 
constitute  or  cause  the  (in  Theosophical  teachings)  seven  com- 
panion "globes"  of  each  planet,  of  which  our  earth  and  all  earths  visi- 
ble to  us  is  the  Fourth.  These,  by  their  combinations  and  cor- 
relations, produce  the  "forty-nine  fires"  of  Eastern  occultism. 
But  one  of  these  Hierarchies  is  dominant  during  any  particular 
Round,  and  to  appreciate  or  reach  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
others  requires  special  and,  in  a  sense,  abnormal  development. 
Yet,  during  certain  portions  of  each  Round  each  of  the  seven 
human  Principles  is  brought  into  special  relations  with  the  domi- 
nant vibration,  or  mode  of  consciousness,  and  from  this  arises  the 
characteristics  which  distinguish  and  constitute  each  Race. 

To  illustrate:  Our  world  is,  as  stated,  in  the  fourth  Round, 
and  the  fourth,  a  kamic,  Hierarchy  is  dominant  throughout  its 
entire  duration.  But  it  is  also  in  its  fifth  subdivision  of  that 
Round,  and  therefore,  under  the  cyclic  law,  is  specially  related  to 
the  fifth,  or  manasic,  Principle,  which  thus  becomes  subdominant, 
or  the  chief  undertone  during  the  race  cycle.  For  this  reason 
we  appear  to  have  intellectuality  dominant,  but  it  is  only  in  ap- 
pearance. In  reality  desire — the  characteristic  of  the  entire 
fourth  Round — is  utilizing  mind  to  increase  the  pleasures  of 
sensuous  perception  in  the  great  mass  of  the  race,  and  mankind 
is,  therefore,  said  to  be  in  the  kama-manasic  state.  Now,  in  the 
next  Round,  the  vibration  of  thought,  or  manas,  will  be  dominant 
throughout  the  Round ;  but  when  we  get  to  the  fourth  division  of 
that  great  cycle  and  enter  its  fourth  Race  the  present  relation 
of  desire  and  thought  will  be  reversed,  and  we  shall  be  in  a  con- 
dition of  manas-kamic  instead  of  kama-manasic,  as  at  present. 
Manas,  or  thought,  will  be  the  ruling  Principle,  and  Kama  will 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

be  a  subtone,  and  be  in  a  similar  condition  of  servitude  to 
thought  that  thought  now  sustains  towards  desire.  At  present 
.desire  is  master  of  thought.  Then  thought  will  be  the  master 
of  desire.  And  similarly  for  all  the  Rounds.  Each  of  the  seven 
Principles  will  be  specially  and  regularly  related  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  Ego  because  of  these  subdominant  cycles  of  each 
Creative  Hierarchy  included  in  the  great  cycle,  Round,  or  Day  of 
Brahma,  and  in  this  manner  constitute  the  seven  natural  divisions 
termed  Races. 

But  how  are  man's  Principles  directly  derived?  That  is  to  say, 
what  is  the  immediate  relation  between  the  human  Principles  and 
the  great  cosmic  Hierarchies?  All  cosmic  Principles  are  divine 
and  pure,  of  necessity.  That  which  we  term  desire,  and  which 
we  are  taught  to  "  kill  out,"  is,  in  its  essence,  a  purely  divine  state 
of  consciousness.     An  attempt  at  an  explanation  is  this: 

A  human  soul  is  a  center  of  consciousness,  arising  we  know 
not  how.  It  roots  in  the  Unknowable.  It  passes  through  all  of 
the  lower  kingdoms  of  nature,  widening  its  consciousness  all  the 
while,  until,  in  unthinkable  periods  of  time,  it  at  last  reaches  a 
condition  of  self-consciousness,  or  a  state  in  which  it  recognizes 
that  it  is  conscious,  and  examines  and  reasons  upon  its  own  con- 
scious states.  We  might  trace  an  evolutionary  pathway,  which 
would  have  at  least  the  warrant  of  analogy,  thus:*  A  center  of 
consciousness  differentiating  within  the  Absolute  unites  itself  with 
pure  primordial  matter,  acquires  the  experiences  of  this  associa- 
tion, which  might  be  distinguished  as  atomic,  and  passes  onward 
to  enter  molecular  matter,  in  which  state  it  synthesizes  two  or 
more  atoms,  already  the  seat  of  a  more  primal  form  of  conscious- 
ness, into  form  as  its  new  body.  And  so  on,  step  by  step,  until 
at  length  it  reaches  the  self-conscious  state,  and  synthesizes  for 
itself  a  body  already  occupied  by  hosts  of  lower  entities.  The 
consciousness  of  these  lower  entities,  in  man's  body  as  well  as  in 

*For  a  fuller  statement  of  this  hypothesis  see  Author's  work,  "Reincarnation,"  chapter 
.  on  "  Individualization  of  the  Soul." 


\/ 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

nature,  is  derived  from  high  creative  beings,  termed,  in  the  East, 
Dhyan  Chohans.  These  great  and  divine  entities  clothe  them- 
selves in  lower  states  of  matter  in  a  manner  analogous  to 
that  by  which  the  human  Ego  incarnates  in  its  body,  and 
impart  to  this  matter  their  consciousness,  and  give  to  it  that  im- 
pulse which  takes  it  up  through  all  the  lower  evolutionary  steps. 
And  the  added  consciousness  which  the  entities  ensouling  this 
matter  thus  obtain  by  emanation  from  these  High  Beings  is  pure 
and  unmarred  by  reason — an  instance  of  which  is  seen  in  that 
consciousness  by  means  of  which  chemical  atoms  seek  unerringly 
their  affinities.  Similarly,  the  center  of  consciousness  of  man,  in 
its  evolutionary  course  upward,  arrives  at  a  state  where  it  clothes 
itself  with  "  matter"  ensouled  by  entities  having  this  lower  yet 
divine  consciousness.  Thus,  in  this  Round  man  is  clothed  almost 
entirely  by  entities  whose  normal  consciousness  is  pure  desire. 
This  consciousness  is  divine  and  natural;  it  is  a  step  in  that 
divine  sequence  which  constitutes  evolution.  The  human  Ego, 
incarnating  here  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  experience,  is  brought 
into  relation  with  these  desire-entities  that  it  may  experience  this 
consciousness.  But  the  human  Ego,  being  inexperienced  and 
ignorant,  allows  its  own  divine,  reasoning  nature  to  be  swayed  by 
that  desire  which,  while  perfectly  normal  in  these  entities  which 
constitute  its  body,  is  abnormal  and  unnatural  for  itself.  By 
incarnating  in  these  desire-swayed  animal  bodies,  the  Ego  thus 
obtains  the  opportunity  to  view  the  play  of  passion,  from  its  divine 
and  reasoning  attitude.  But  the  part  of  spectator  does  not  sat- 
isfy. So  close  is  the  union  produced  by  incarnation  that  the 
ray  of  Manas  which  intellectualizes  the  human-animal  brain  falls 
under  the  illusion  that  itself  and  its  body  are  identical,  and  rages 
and  fights  with  all  the  fury  of  one  whom  the  struggle  concerns. 
This  illusion  is  caused  by  the  dominance  of  the  kamic  Principle 
during  the  fourth  Round.  But  the  fifth,  or  manasic  subcycle 
of  this  Round  being  now  in  progress,  that  Principle  is  being 
immensely  strengthened  by  the  influx  from  its  Hierarchy;  so  that, 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

as  this  is  the  turning  or  lowest  point  of  the  evolutionary  arc, 
the  fight  for  supremacy  between  Thought  and  Desire  is  taking  place 
now,  and  for  many  human  souls  is  being  settled  for  this  Manvan- 
tara,  or  man-completing  cycle. 

The  relation  of  Principle  to  Hierarchy,  then,  is  that  of  attri- 
bute to  its  source;  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Manasic  Hierarchy,  of 
parent  to  child.  Each  of  the  seven  states  of  consciousness  which 
constitute  man's  Principles  is  derived  from  a  different  Hierarchy, 
or  Host;  the  lower  Principles  coming  from  the  diffused  Dhyan 
Chohanic  impulse  upon  matter.  When  this  impulse  has  pushed 
the  evolutionary  process  sufficiently  high,  then  other  and  higher 
entities  incarnate  in  man,  and  bestow  upon  him  his  Thinking 
Principle,  thus  lifting  his  consciousness  to  a  higher  plane. 

In  this  manner,  then,  is  man  shown  to  be  the  Microcosm  of  the 
Macrocosm.  If  we  find  in  him  these  Principles  of  Desire,  or 
Thought,  or,  still  higher,  of  Divine  Intuition,  we  must  postulate 
and  accept  a  source  for  them.  Theosophy  does  not  assume  cre- 
ation out  of  nothing.  The  presence  in  man  of  the  ability  to 
think,  the  force  of  desire,  the  power  of  intuition,  or  any  of 
the  things  which  make  up  his  being,  necessitates  postulating  a  ' 
source  for  each.  It  is,  also,  unphilosophic  to  suppose  that  a 
stream  can  rise  higher  than  its  source,  to  use  a  physical  illustra- 
tion. Therefore,  so  far  from  accepting,  with  materialism,  that  con- 
sciousness is  the  result  of  molecular  vibration,  Theosophy  postu-. 
lates  as  the  source  of  man's  conscious  Principles  divine  Principles 
almost  infinitely  higher  than  their  lesser  reflections  in  him. 
Every  effect  must  have  its  cause.  The  power  to  think  must  have 
origin  somewhere.  Shall  we  accept  the  absurdity  of  something 
arising  out  of  nothing?  or  the  theosophical  teaching  that  these 
Principles  are  derived  from  great  cosmic  or  hierarchal  states  of 
consciousness?     The  latter  must  appeal  to  any  reasoning  being. 

A  further  proof  that  man  is  the  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm 
is  found  in  the  fact  that, in  his  physical  body  he  synthesizes  all 
the  known  forces  in   nature.     All  systems  of  levers,  all  possible 


r. 


xxii  INTRODUCTION. 

physical  motion,  is  there  exemplified.  All  states  of  consciousness 
in  nature  are  also  in  his  body.  The  consciousness  which  is  in  the 
stone  is  found  in  his  bones;  that  of  vegetable  life,  in  the  hairs  of 
his  head;  the  consciousness  of  all  stages  of  animal  life  is  found 
in  the  differing  cells  and  organs  of  his  body;  so  that  man  is  the 
Microcosm  of  all  nature  about  us  of  which  we  can  conceive.  It 
is,  therefore,  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  is  likewise  the 
Microcosm  of  the  inconceivable  side  of  nature. 

Man's  Seven  Principles,  then,  are:  The  Body,  which  limits  his 
consciousness  to  perceptions  of  form,  time,  and  space  by  means  of 
the  senses.  Prana,  which  gives  rise  to,  and  is  the  consciousness 
of,  life.  The  Linga  Sharira,  which  relates  him  to  astral  or  reflected 
consciousness.  Kama,  which  relates  him  to  the  consciousness  of 
desire.  Manas,  which  relates  him  to  consciousness  of  conscious- 
ness, or  self-consciousness.  Buddhi,  which  relates  him  to  intuitional 
consciousness;  consciousness  above  thought — in  which  no  thought 
is  necessary.  And,  finally,  Atma,  wherein  all  consciousness,  and 
all  states  of  consciousness,  are  synthesized.  ] 

We  will  err,  however,  in  our  further  study  if  we  consider  man 
as  the  product  of  evolution,  as  this  term  is  commonly  understood. 
There  is  no  evolution,  in  the  scientific  use  of  the  word.  There  is 
a  great  becoming,  which,  as  already  partially  explained,  proceeds 
somewhat  in  this  manner:  There  streams  out  from  the  Absolute 
the  Seven  great  Rays,  Breaths,  or  Hierarchies,  of  creative  being, 
before  referred  to.  Without  pausing  to  analyze  their  combinations 
and  differentiations,  let  us  suppose  that  each  of  these  great 
Hierarchies  ensouls  a  portion  of  cosmic  Substance.  Within 
the  limits  of  each  Hierarchy,  an  evolution  is  possible  from  a 
lower  to  a  more  intense  degree  of  the  particular  consciousness 
of  the  Hierarchy.  But  for  a  being  ensouled  by,  let  us  say,  kamic 
to  reach  the  manasic  or  thought  consciousness  by  evolving  up 
to  and  into  it  out  of  the  kamic,  is  as  impossible  as  it  is  absurd. 
Not  all  the  forces  of  the  kamic  plane  can  produce  one  single  rational 
thought.     There  must  come  entities,  having  the  power  of  thought. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXlH 

and  bestow  this  power  by  emanation,  ere  thought  can  be  born. 
Therefore,  it  is  idle  to  say  that  man  evolves  up  and  through  the 
animal  kingdom  as  man.  As  a  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm, 
as  a  potential  center  of  consciousness  upon  every  plane  of  the 
Cosmos  by  virtue  of  his  being  sprung  from  and  a  portion  of  the 
Absolute  itself,  the  center  of  consciousness  in  man  has  experi- 
enced all  these  states;  but  it  was  not  as  man  while  so  doing-. 
Not  until  he  was  touched  by  the  flame  of  thought  did  man  become  — 
a  thinker  and  a  man. 

When,  therefore,  a  center  of  consciousness  is  in  a  certain  "  king- 
dom" it  is  helpless  to  win  its  way  up  and  out  of  that  kingdom. 
For  it,  "  evolution"  is  a  meaningless  word.  If  it  be  locked  in  the  — 
stony  embrace  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  there  it  must  remain  until 
help  from  above  enables  it  to  pass  out  of  this  state.  If  it  be  a 
vegetable  or  an  animal,  it  is  equally  helpless.  Caught  in  that 
part  of  the  cycle  of  necessity  where  Kama*  holds  sway,  it  can  only 
experience  and  make  kamic  feeling  its  own.  But  when  it  reaches 
the  very  fulness  of  this,  it  has  also  reached  a  point  where  thought 
is  able  to  weld  or  fusje-i^self  to  the  kamically  heated  mass,  and  a  - 
thinking  soul  is  born. 

As  a  pilgrim  through  all  these  hierarchies  of  consciousness, 
man  may  be  said  to  evolve  ;  but  the  cause  of  his  evolution  is  an 
emanation  from  above,  not  a  pushing  up  from  below.  And  the 
true  man  really  never  was  an  animal,  nor  a  lower  being  of  any 
sort.  Birth,  as  man,  occurs  when  that  Hierarchy  is  reached  and 
its  emanation  becomes  possible;  but  did  not  self-conscious  beings 
descend  or  incarnate  in  the  animal  bodies  not  all  the  evolutionary 
forces  acting  throughout  all  the  eternities  could  produce  a  man. 
Life  may  be  received  from  one  Hierarchy,  form  from  another, 
and  desire  may  be  born  from  the  emanation  of  a  third;  but  the 
entity  is  still  not  a  man  until  Manas,  or  Thought,  stoops  and  claims 
him  for  its  own. 

And  this  is  not  the  work  of  an  instant,  as  we  mark  time,  but 

*Kama — Desire,  uninfluenced  by  thought  or  reason. 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

occupies  untold  ages  in  its  birth-throes.  For  Thought  must  reach 
down  and  lay  hold  of  the  purely  kamic  entity,  and  struggle  sore 
and  long  ere  the  new  being  is  sure  of  his  foothold  among  the  gods. 

This,  then,  constitutes  man  the  Microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm: 
that  he  holds  within  his  being  all  potentialities  of  that  Macrocosm, 
and  that  he  has  received  from  the  great  Creative  Hierarchies  their 
creative  emanations,  and,  with  the  impress  of  Manas,  or  Thought, 
upon  his  brow,  is  winning  his  way  back  toward  the  Source  from 
whence  he  came,  fl/us  the  self-consciousness  bestowed  by  Thought. 
Equally  with  man,  however,  may  every  atom  in  the  Universe  be 
said  to  be  the  Microcosm,  for  each  holds  all  the  potentialities  of 
the  Great  Whole.  Man  is  but  the  pure,  virgin  gold,  passing 
through  the  hand  of  many  hierarchies  of  workmen,  and  receiving 
the  impress  of  each.  But  each  can  bestow  but  its  own  nature, 
and  so  man  is  not  man  until  he  reaches  a  point  where  Mind- 
Dhyanas  take  him  in  hand,  and  bestow  their  last,  best,  yet  oft- 
times  fatal  gift.  In  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  consciousness 
within  the  seas  of  lower  hierarchies  the  centers  of  consciousness 
may  fuse  and  blend,  flow  upward  and  recede,  for  all  is  below  the 
plane  of  self-conscious  thought.  Only  at  the  very  farthest  borders 
of  Kama  has  the  ripple  of  differentiation  reached  that  degree  at 
which  it  becomes  possible  for  a  new  and  distinct  entity  to  be 
born.  Below  this,  the  rising  and  falling  of  conscious  life  can 
scarcely  be  called  evolution,  nor  can  the  entities  so  engaged  be 
said  to  be  either  advancing  or  retrograding. 

All  entities  in  Nature,  then,  are  in  the  throes  of  a  great  becom- 
ing, which  might  be  called  evolution,  if  the  proper  methods  by 
which  this  becoming  is  accomplished  were  understood.  Within 
each  Hierarchy  there  is  an  ebbing  and  flowing  of  consciousness, 
and  this  process  may  be  said  to  be  evolution,  in,  perhaps,  the  sci- 
entific sense  of  the  term.  But  from  Hierarchy  to  Hierarchy  no 
evolution  is  possible.  The  lifting  is  done  by  the  direct  bestow- 
ing of  the  essence  of  the  higher  upon  the  lower  entity.  This  great 
fact  must  be  kept  distinctly  in  mind  in  all  the  study  of  Man  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

his  Principles  which  will  be  had  in  this  volume.  By  it  can  be 
understood  the  relation  of  the  true  Thinking  Man  to  his  lower 
reflection.  By  it  may  be  seen  how,  and  why,  and  where,  the 
struggle  of  Mind  with  Passion  takes  place,  and  a  ray  of  philo- 
sophical light  thus  thrown  across  the  darkly-passionate  pages  of 
human  existence. 


SEPTENARY  MAN 

OR 

THE  MICROCOSM  OF  THE  MACROCOSM. 


CHAPTER     I. 

THE  BODY. 

rfjlfHE  BODY,  or  the  tabernacle  of  the  clay  in  which  man's  soul 
^-^  dwells,  is  the  first  or  the  seventh,  accordingly  as  numbered, 
of  the  seven  Principles  or  aspects  of  consciousness  into  which 
Theosophy  divides  the  human  constitution.  Pes  office  is  to  relate 
man's  center  of  consciousness  or  soul  to  matter  in  a  condition  of 
molecular  activity,  or  to  that  rate  of  vibration  which  constitutes 
the  fourth  Round.  Upon  this  earth,  or  Globe  "D"  of  theosophic 
nomenclature,  this  molecular  Round  represents  the  very  apotheo- 
sis of  impermanency  of  states  of  consciousness  as  well  as  of  form. 
During  its  cycle,  change  follows  upon  change  with  an  almost  infi- 
nite rapidity;  integration  and  disintegration  succeed  each  other 
with  the  swiftness  of  thought,  and  effect  treads  upon  the  heels  of 
cause  with  a  celerity  impossible  upon  higher  planes  of  being  and 
in  more  stable  states  of  matter.  Consequently,  the  soul  has 
here  its  greatest  opportunities  for  setting  up  causes,  either  good 
or  evil,  and  for  quickly  experiencing  their  effects,  and  hence  of 
rapidly  acquiring  knowledge  and  wisdom.  Therefore,  this  molec- 
ular plane  has  been  rightly  termed  the  great  schoolhouse  of  the 
soul. 

As  we  shall  see  in  the  proper  connection,  the  true  soul  of  man 
is  out  of  all  harmonic  relation  with  molecular  consciousness.  In 
order,  then,  that  it  may  reach  this,  it  becomes  necessary  for  it  to 
approach  it  by  utilizing  specially  prepared  molecular  avenues.     It 


23  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

therefore  constructs  for  itself  a  body  composed  of  molecules  capa- 
ble of  receiving  the  impressions  caused  by  the  contact  of  other 
molecules  and  the  molecular  forces  having  here  their  normal  field 
of  activity,  and  in  this  manner  assimilates  molecular  consciousness. 
This  is  the  sole  office  of  the  body  as  such— to  bring  the  soul 
within  the  area  of  molecular  activities ;  to  cause  it  to  become  sen- 
sitive to,  or  conscious  of,  molecular  vibrations.     It  is  not  the  seat 

/t/  of  sensation understanding  by  sensation  the  impressions  that  the 

soul  receives  from  the  senses,  or  the  experience  it  gets  through 
hearing,  seeing,  smelling,  tasting,  and  touching  or  contact.  None 
of  these  are  located  in  the  physical  body,  but  in  an  inner  or 
astral  one,  which  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 

That  the  senses  are  not  seated  in  the  body,  is  capable  of  demon- 
stration in  many  ways,  chief  among  which  are  the  phenomena  of 
hypnotism.     In  this  state  it  is  possible  for  the  will  of  the  hypno- 
tizer  to  interpose  between  the    subject  and   his    senses,  and  to 
inhibit  the  hearing,  seeing,  tasting,  feeling,  or  smelling  of  the  latter 
at  will.     Thus  one,  yielding  to  the  hypnotic  trance,  can  be  made 
to  taste  water  as  vinegar,  vinegar  as  water,  quinine  as  sugar,  and 
vice  versa;  or,  in  the  case  of  sight,  made  to  see,  or  prevented  from 
seeing,  anything  the  hypnotizer  wills.     For  example:     If  forbid- 
den to  see  a  certain  person  while  permitted  to  see  his  hat,  the 
result  is  that  the  hat  is  seen  floating  about  in  the  air,  while  the  sub- 
ject is  quite  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  man  wearing  it. 
If  the  senses  were  in  the  body  this  phenomenon  would  be  impossi- 
ble, for  after  the  impact  of  the  vibrations  of  light  they  would  be 
transferred  along  the  molecules  of  the  optic  nerve  and  impinge 
upon  and  set  up  motion  in  the  molecules  of  the  physical  brain, 
and  the  will  of  another — or  even  of  one's  self— could  not  prevent, 
once  it  formed  upon  the  retina,  the  picture  of  the  complete  man, 
hat  and  all,  being  transmitted  to  the  brain  and  there  recorded  as 
a  conscious  experience,  if  the  senses  really  were  in  the  physical 
molecules  of  the  brain.     A  physical  sequence  of  a  physical  eye,  a 
physical  optic  nerve,  and  physical  molecules  of  the  brain,  cannot 
be  interrupted  except  by  physical  means.     Therefore,  when  an 
outside  will  interposes  between  the  power  of  sight,  hearing,  or 
either  of  the  senses,  and  their  objects,  it  is  evident  that  the  centers 


THE   BODY.  29 

of  sensation  are  not  in  the  mftlecules  of  man's  physical  brain,  but 
must  lie  more  deeply  within  his  being.  It  will  be  seen,  also,  that 
herein  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  soul. 

The  human  body,  then,  is  built  up  of  countless  hosts  of  mol- 
ecules synthesized  into  cells  by  units  of  consciousness  having  their 
normal  existence  upon  the  molecular  plane.  These  latter  derive 
their  energy  and  vitality  from  those  which  the  "  Secret  Doctrine" 
terms  "  fiery  lives" — that  is  to  say,  from  the  almost  homogeneous, 
electrical  "  world  stuff"  which  represents  the  dawn  of  cosmic  dif- 
ferentiation, and  whose  center  of  energy  is  the  sun.  The  infi- 
nitely active  energies  of  these  fiery  lives,  radiating  as  that  which 
we  recognize  as  light,  heat,  electricity,  vital  force,  etc.,  are  inter- 
cepted and  directed  or  synthesized  in  order  to  construct  molec- 
ular bodies  by  units  of  consciousness  descending  to  the  mo- 
lecular plane.  The  action  is  similar  to  that  of  the  millwright  who 
takes  advantage  of  the  flowing  stream  of  water  to  direct  it  through 
his  turbine  wheels  to  move  his  machinery.  Or  it  may  be,  rather, 
more  like  the  action  of  the  farmer  who  takes  advantage  of  the 
generative  forces  of  springtime  to  sow  the  seed  for  his  future 
crops.  Force  so  intercepted  and  utilized  becomes  the  so-called 
"  latent"  energies.  All  latent  energy  is  but  the  restricting  of  the 
original  fire-mist  rate  of  vibration  within  molecular  limits.  In 
the  mineral  kingdom,  this  latency  may  persist  for  an  entire  globe- 
Round,*  and  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  even,  during  those  enor- 
mous periods  represented  in  such  examples  as  the  giant  sequoia  of 
California,  which  botanists  assert  were  living  in  the  (supposed) 
days  of  Solomon.  But  in  the  animal  and  human-animal  kingdoms 
the  life  cycles  of  entities  are  shorter;  and,  while  the  force  of  the 
downward  cycle  of  a  reembodying  entity  is  sufficient  to  control 
into  an  orderly  sequence  the  action  of  the  fiery  lives,  yet,  when 
that  cycle  begins  to  wane,  the  force  relaxes,  and,  from  being  "  build- 
ers," these  now  become  "destroyers";  and  their  energies,  no  longer 
controlled  by  the"  elemental"!  which  synthesizes  the  human  body, 


*Globe-Round— the  duration  of  evolutionary  activity  upon  any  one  of  earth's  seven  globes. 
One-seventh  of  a  Round. 

fThe  lower  entity  which  synthesizes  the  body  viewed  as  a  merely  animal  form.  All  ani- 
mals have  similar  "  elemental  souls,"  or  centers  of  consciousness.     See  later  on. 


30  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

are  seized  upon  by  the  numberless  parasites,  or  "  microbes," 
which  infest  it,  and  utilized  to  finally  break  up  the  form  which 
the  same  energies  originally  constructed.  Except  for  this  action, 
nature  would  be  but  one  vast  cemetery  of  "dead"  forms,  await- 
ing the  termination  of  the  Round. 

The  fact  that  man  is  the  microcosm  of  the  macrocosm  is  illus- 
trated in  the  progressive  steps  of  his  reembodiment.     These  show 
that  there  are  within  his  being,  either  actually  or  potentially,  all 
states  of  consciousness,  all  modes  of  motion,  and  all  the  conditions 
of  matter  in  the  universe  about  him.     As  the  pranic  vibration   of 
the  fiery  lives  descends  to  successive  planes,  innumerable  entities 
which  have  been  associated  with  man  in  past  lives    awaken  to  re- 
newed activity  and  life.     It  is  the  enforced  attendance  of  these 
entities  which  constitutes  man  the  microcosm  of  the  macrocosm, 
and  his  cycles  of  objective  and   subjective  life  are  their  relative 
manvantaras*  and  pralayas.      For,  just  as  a  world  comes  into  being 
out  of  fire-mist,  and  descends  through  all  the  differing  states  of 
matter  until  it  reaches  its  lowest  point  in  the  rocks,  and  then   re- 
ascends  the  evolutionary  cycle   until  it  loses  all   form  at  the   cul- 
mination of  the  spiritual  portion  of  its  arc,  carrying  in  both  its  up- 
ward and  downward  sweep  hosts  of  entities  synthesized  by  its 
great  Rector,  so  is  the  body  of  man  formed  by,  and  the  incarna- 
tion   of,    associated    entities,  with   whose    evolution    he    is    also 
especially  connected  as  their  chief,  or  Rector.     As  the  energy  of 
these  fiery  lives  passes  downward  through  ethereal  and  astral  into 
molecular  matter,  at  each  plane  the  awakened  entities  clothe  them- 
selves with  its  "matter,"  until  at  length  they  reach  the  physical, 
and  their  reincarnation  is  accomplished.      Chief  of  these,  and  syn- 
thesizer of  each  human  body,  is  that  which  is  known  as  a  "  human" 
elemental.     The  return  of  this  elemental  to  incarnation  necessi- 
tates and  involves  the  construction  of  the  outer,  physical  form  in 
its  entirety,  as  it  is  the  chief  Rector  of  the  body  as  such,  and  stands 
in  relation  to  the  true   man,  or  reincarnating  ego,  much  as  does 
the  Rector  of  the  earth  to  the   Rectors  of  the  "divine"  planets. 
For,  as  the  "  Secret  Doctrine"  states,  "  The  Lha  which  turns  the 

*Manvantara— a  man-perfecting  cycle  or  evolutionary  period.     Pralaya— an  equal  period 
..  of  "rest,"  or  subjective  as  opposed  to  objective  existence. 


THE   BODY.  31 

Fourth  is  servant  to  the  Lhas  of  the  Seven."  And  although  un- 
doubtedly the  next  manvantaric  step  forward  of  the  process  of 
evolution  will  bring  this  entity  upon  the  human  plane,  at  present 
it  is  but  a  single  step  in  advance  of  other  and  similar  elementals 
which  synthesize  the  bodies  of  the  animals  in  the  next  kingdom 
below.  Some  of  the  higher  of  these  would  appear  to  be  at  present 
more  fitted  to  step  upward  to  the  human-elemental  plane  than 
are  those  in  human  form  fitted  to  pass  on  into  completed  human 
beings — so  greatly  have  we  failed  in  our  duty  of  controlling  and 
spiritualizing  these  our  turbulent  associates. 

Thus,  at  each  step  in  the  process  of  reincarnating,  the  human 
soul  is  related  successively  to  more  and  more  material  "bodies," 
until  these  culminate  in  the  grossly  physical  encasement  in  which 
it  dwells  while  in  molecular  environments.  Nature  eternally  re- 
peats her  processes;  and  so  man,  in  reincarnating,  returns  with  the 
"  matter,"  similar  to  that  of  Globe  D  of  the  first  Round  as  his 
first  "  body ";  for  in  each  Round  all  bodies  must  correspond  to 
and  be  composed  of  the  "matter"  of  each  particular  globe  of  that 
Round.  Thus  his  bodies,  during  the  entire  first  Round,  were 
"  fiery" — built  up  of  the  very  essence  of  these  fiery  lives; — and, 
although  these  descended  through  four  globes,  or  increasingly 
material  states,  yet  Globe  "  D"  only  represented  the  shadowy  pro- 
totype of  its  gross  materiality  in  this  Round;  so  that  man's  body 
may  be  fairly  classed  as  "  fiery"  throughout,  so  much  did  this  ele- 
ment predominate.  During  the  next  Round  it  was,  let  us  say,  ethe- 
real, and  in  the  next  astral,  while  in  this  it  is  molecular  or  physi- 
cal. Each  of  these  Rounds  lasts,  as  we  have  seen,  for  almost 
unthinkable  periods;  and,  as  the  story  of  man's  physical  evolution 
is  completely  repeated  in  his  intra-uterine  life,  so  is  the  entire  his- 
tory of  his  conscious  evolution  throughout  all  Rounds  repeated 
swiftly  at  each  incarnation  during  this  Round.  In  the  descend- 
ing arc,  or  the  first  half  of  the  manvantara  of  seven  Rounds,  man 
is  simply  entangled  in  matter.  The  vibration  which  changes  at 
the  end  of  each  of  these,  under  the  will  of  great  creative  Dhyan 
Chohans,  necessitates  his  change  of  vestment  independent  of  his 
own  volition.  But  in  the  ascending  arc  he  will  have — must 
have — rewon  his  divinity,  and  must  take  a  conscious  part  in  the 


32  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

controlling  and  molding  of  not  only  his  physical  habitation  but  his 
physical  environments — his  planet.  Similarly,  at  present  his  re- 
incarnating takes  place  without  his  self-conscious  volition,  but  the 
time  must  speedily  come  when  he  must  choose.  His  devachanic* 
body,  then,  corresponds  to  that  of  the  first  Round,  and  as  he 
descends  to  earth  for  another  life  the  body  of  each  succeeding 
Round  will  be  reconstructed  and  reoccupied,  however  briefly,  until 
at  his  completed  reincarnation  he  finds  himself  in  his  present 
physical  habitation. 

The  correspondence  of  man's  cycles  of  objective  and  (relatively) 
subjective  life  to  manvantarasf  and  pralayas  will  now  be  apparent. 
When  "  death"  occurs,  it  disembodies  all  the  hosts  of  entities 
incarnated  in  his  physical  body,  and  brings  upon  them  an  enforced 
pralaya,  or  rest.  With  certain  of  these,  the  pralaya  must  persist 
until  he  reincarnates  again,  for  they  are  karmically  bound  to  one 
microcosm  alone.  Others  of  a  lower  order  seek  other  bodies  at 
once,  even  though  they  may  be  reattracted  to  the  same  ego  at  a 
subsequent  incarnation.  At  any  rate,  the  so-called  "  death"  pro- 
cess sweeps  inward  until  the  hour  strikes  for  each  entity  associ- 
ated with  any  microcosm,  or  body.  When  the  time  comes  for 
reincarnation,  the  ego  sweeps  downward,  awakening  from  this 
their  pralaya  all  the  numberless  hierarchies  of  lower  entities  which 
are  to  ensoul  the  "  matter"  of  his  body.  Descending  from  fiery 
matter,  these,  as  we  have  seen,  build  for  themselves,  utilizing  the 
energy  of  the  fiery  lives,  the  ethereal  and  then  the  astral  forms  of 
former  Rounds,  and  at  length  reach  the  physical  plane.  Here 
certain  entities  incarnate  as  molecules,  and,  of  these,  entities  a 
little  higher  construct  cells.  Each  cell  of  the  human  body  is  a 
distinct  entity,  as  even  science  admits.  Entities,  still  higher,  syn- 
thesize these  cells  into  organs;  and  finally  the  human-elemental — 
the  highest  of  all,  and  the  next  to  reach  the  human  stage — syn- 
thesizes the  whole  of  the  body  into  an  avenue  fit  for  the  soul  to 
use  in  its  approach  to  this  world.  Man's  body,  physically,  differs 
in  no  wise  from  those  of  the  animals.     Each  of  these  has  its  dis- 

*  Devachan — the  subjective  existence  between  two  earth  lives.     A  state  rather  than  a  place, 
although  the  latter  is  a  necessity  to  any  entity  having  form. 
t  See  note  page  30. 


THE   BODY.  33 

tinct  center  of  consciousness;  and  this  center,  or  "  soul"  of  the 
animal,  synthesizes  in  many  instances  a  body  just  as  complex  as 
is  the  body  of  man,  and  which  is,  in  certain  directions,  more  per- 
fect than  his.  The  great  distinction  is  that  in  the  animal  body 
is  an  animal  "  elemental,"  or  one  an  entire  manvantara*  behind 
the  human,  while  in  the  human  body  is  a  "  human-elemental," 
progressed  a  manvantara  farther.  The  animal  elemental — with 
the  exception  of  certain  apes — will  not  be  ready  to  pass  into  the 
human  stage  for  two  manvantaras;  the  human  elemental  can  do 
so  in  the  next. 

The  consciousness  of  the  body  is  _b_elow  the  plane  of  self-con- 
sciousness. As  self-consciousness  marks  the  impress  of  a  human 
soul,  and  as  the  consciousness  of  the  body  is  composed  of  these 
innumerable  elemental  centers  of  synthesizing  consciousness  not 
yet  having  reached  the  human  stage,  it  must  therefore  be  below 
the  self-conscious  plane.  This  is  the  true  reason  why  we  are  not 
conscious  of  the  functions  of  digestion,  of  waste  and  repair,  growth, 
and  such  things.  All  are  done  under  the  supervision  of  the  ele- 
mentals  in  our  bodies,  and  we  know  nothing  of  them  unless  they 
become  abnormal  in  their  action,  and  even  then  our  conscious- 
ness of  them  is  faint  and  often  quite  absent.  But  it  is  perfectly 
possible,  as  the  microcosm  of  the  macrocosm,  for  man  to  transfer 
his  consciousness  to  these  cells;  and  instances  of  his  doing  so, 
and  thus  controlling  them,  are  to  be  found  in  those  Indian  Yogis 
who  pierce  their  flesh  with  knife-thrusts  which  immediately  heal, 
etc.  Likewise,  Christian  Scientists  at  times  cure  diseases  by  cen- 
tering, and — as  most  Theosophists  believe — degrading,  the  higher, 
divine  consciousness  into  the  performance  of  purely  physical 
functions  which  are  the  normal  duties  of  entities  far  below  the 
human  plane.  Disease  can  often  be  cured  when  the  will  is  suffi- 
ciently developed  by  thus  transferring  the  divine,  creative  con- 
sciousness to  the  physical  plane;  but  the  process  is  in  the  highest 
degree  abnormal,  and  must  react  injuriously  in  this  or  succeeding 
incarnations. 

The    process    of    so-called    death  may  be    more    specifically 

*  Man-perfecting  cycle . 


34  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

described  thus:  When  the  "hour"  strikes,  death  begins  with  the 
body,  and  as  the  soul  casts  off"  its  successive  vestments,  it  may  be 
said  to  pass  through  several.  The  first  of  these  frees  it  from  the 
physical  cells  and  the  lowest  astral  body,  or  Linga  Sharira.  It 
now  clothes  itself  for  a  more  or  less  extended  period  with  a 
higher  astral  form,  known  as  the  Body  of  Desires,  or  Kama  Rupa. 
This  after  a  time  it  abandons,  and  remains  clothed  with  its  deva- 
chanic  body  until  the  time  comes  for  it  to  reincarnate.  Another 
death  consists  in  its  reincarnation,  or  birth  here  into  material  ex- 
istence. These  successive  deaths  are  referred  to  in  many  scrip- 
tures. Even  in  the  Christian  Bible  we  are  taught  to  beware  of 
the  "second  death,"  meaning  death  upon  the  astral  plane.  It 
refers  to  the  possibility  of  the  loss  of  the  human  soul  through  get- 
ting enmeshed  in  the  lower  Principles,  or  Quaternary,  which  nor- 
mally perish  after  the  death  of  the  body  (to  be  discussed  later  on). 
The  dissolution  of  the  body  is  brought  about  by  other  and  for- 
eign "lives,"  or  "microbes,"  when  the  "  fiery  lives"  abandon  it. 
Our  bodies,  in  common  with  those  of  all  organized  beings,  are  in- 
fested with  parasites,  both  within  and  without,  which  are  capable 
of  destroying,  and  will  destroy  it,  after  the  fiery  lives,  and  with 
them  its  "vitality,"  have  departed.  But  this  destruction  is  the 
work  of  parasites.  It  has  been  stated  in  theosophical  writings 
that  man  is  built  up  of"  microbes."  Here  we  must  avoid  confus- 
ing the  general  use  of  the  word  "microbe,"  from  micro  (small), 
and  bios  (life),  with  its  technical  use  in  biology  and  other  sciences. 
In  the  "  Secret  Doctrine"  it  is  used  in  its  general  sense  of  "little 
lives,"  and  we  are  specially  warned  against  the  very  confusion 
which  has  arisen  by  the  statement  that  the  smallest  microbe 
known  to  science  is  as  an  elephant  to  a  flea  compared  with  these. 
The  microbes  of  science  are  all  parasites,  and  abnormal  occupants 
of  the  human  body.  This  is  built  up  of  cells,  and  cells  are  not 
microbes  in  the  scientific  use  of  the  term.  The  success  of  em- 
balming and  preserving  mummies  depends  upon  the  destruction  of 
these  parasites  which  infest  the  human  body.  Their  thorough 
destruction  after  death  will  preserve  it  through  countless  ages. 
There  was,  some  time  since,  the  body  of  an  elephant  washed  out 
of  an  ice  floe  in  Russia,  which  must  have  been  there  since  the  gla- 


THE   BODY.  35 

cial  period,  and  yet  the  flesh  was  found  untouched  by  decomposi- 
tion. Mummies,  buried  from  three  to  five  thousand  years  since, 
have  portions  of  the  body  just  as  well  preserved  as  though  they 
had  been  buried  only  yesterday.  Mummification  really  consists 
in  the  destruction  of  the  numerous  parasites  which  infest  the  hu- 
man body,  and  its  protection  from  subsequent  invasion  by  others. 
Even  in  life,  when  the  vitality  is  lowered,  these  parasites  begin  to 
attack  the  tissues,  and  multiply  at  such  a  rate  that  they  soon  trans- 
form certain  portions  of  the  body  into  a  mass  of  disease,  in  which 
the  microbes  (parasites)  run  riot,  and  cause  the  dissolution  of  the 
whole  body  unless  they  are  controlled.  The  death  of  the  body,  then, 
is  brought  about  by  the  withdrawal  from  it  of  the  "fiery  lives,"  and 
its  disintegration — quite  another  thing — through  the  agency  of 
the  microbes  which  live  upon  us,  and  whose  attacks  we  resist  dur- 
ing life,  because  the  vitality  of  the  cells,  resulting  from  the  presence 
of  the  fiery  lives,  keeps  them  at  bay. 

Whence  come  our  bodies  physically?  Up  and  through  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  undoubtedly,  but  not  from  the  present  animals  nor 
from  a  common  ancestor,  even.  It  is  evident  that,  as  the  "  Secret 
Doctrine"  states,  physical  man  leads  the  animal  kingdom  in  this 
Round,  for  if  animals  preceded  him  they  ought  to  be  further  pro- 
gressed in  evolution  than  he.  The  fact  that  he  is  farther  advanced 
plainly  shows  that  he  came  upon  this  world  first,  allowing,  as  we 
must,  common  and  mutual  evolutionary  forces  afterwards.  The 
«'  Secret  Doctrine,"  indeed,  teaches  that  he  descended  from  an  ape- 
like ancestor;  but  that  ancestor  was  an  astral  one,  and  belonged 
to  the  third  Round,  or  that  which  preceded  this.*  The  centers 
of  consciousness  of  our  physical  bodies,  known  as  Lunar  Pitris, 
arrived  at  the  "human-elemental"  stage,  upon  the  moon,  and 
came  to  the  earth  and*  constructed  for  themselves  fiery  bodies 
during  the  first  Round.  Descending  to  the  ethereal,  or  second 
Round,  these  bodies  assumed  its  qualities,  and  were  formed  of 
ethereal  substance.  Coming  to  the  astral,  or  third  Round,  they 
built  for  themselves  huge,  ape-like  bodies  of  astral  matter,  which 
astral  bodies,  repeated  briefly  in  the  third  race  of  this  Round,  con- 

*As  all  evolution  is  an  eternal  repetition  of  the  past  before  a  further  forward  step  is  taken, 
so  this  "ape-like"  form  was  repeated  in  the  third  race  of  this  Round. 


36  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

stitute  all  the  ape-like  ancestor  man  has  ever  had.  During  the 
third  Round,  his  form,  being  built  on  subconscious  planes  and  of 
astral  matter,  became  a  kind  of  huge  prototype  of  that  which  it 
afterwards  assumed  when  it  descended  into  the  molecular  matter 
of  this,  the  fourth  Round.  The  human-elementals,  or  Lunar 
Pitris,  which  synthesized  these  forms,  came  over  from  the  moon 
when  that  planet  passed  into  pralaya,  and  in  this  manner  during- 
the  first  three  and  one-half  Rounds  slowly  built  up  our  human 
bodies  into  their  present  shape.  At  the  fourth  Round  only,  these 
human-animal  bodies  became  capable  of  receiving  and  responding 
to  impressions  from  the  Higher  Ego,  or  thinking  Soul,  and  thus 
enabled  the  true  man  to  come  upon  the  earth.  For  man  is  not 
the  human-elemental,  associated  with  him  as  the  constructor  and 
synthesizer  of  his  body,  but  the  Ray  of  Manas  from  the  divine 
Higher  Ego,  as  the  result  of  this  incarnation. 

The  physical  cells  of  which  the  human  body  is  constructed  are 
the  seat  of  purely  physical  heredity.  The  impression  of  this 
heredity  upon  them  causes  the  resemblance  to  parents.  The  cells 
from  each  parent  meet  and  blend  in  a  most  intimate  fusion,  and 
their  different  sources  bestow  upon  them  a  certain  power  of  vari- 
ation which  causes  the  child  to  evolve  in  the  direction  of  one  or 
the  other,  and  thus  affords  opportunity  for  this,  which  is  a  neces- 
sary portion  of  evolution.  If  man  came  from  one  parent,  he  would 
resemble  that  parent  quite  accurately,  and  each  child  would  be  an 
almost  exact  reproduction  of  its  parent.  But  when  the  origin  is 
from  two  parents,  variation  is  necessary  and  is  thus  provided  for. 
It  is,  then,  along  this,  the  line  of  physical  heredity,  that  all  these 
resemblances  in  form  and  feature,  and  even  in  psychic  traits, 
reaches  man.  The  physical  is  one  of  the  three  streams  of  hered- 
ity flowing  into  man.  The  other  two  will  be  discussed  when  their 
sources  are  being  studied. 

If  man  be  the  microcosm  of  the  macrocosm,  there  ought  to  be 
exhibited,  in  his  physical  organism,  evidences  of  a  septenary  law, 
and  this  is  found  to  be  true.  His  tissues  are  of  seven  kinds, 
pointing  to  seven  distinct  hierarchies  of  entities  in  its  construction. 
Each  of  these  hierarchies  may  again  be  subdivided,  making  thus 
forty-nine  variants  upon  the  primary  seven.     These  seven  tissues 


THE   BODY.  37 

are:  the  neuroglic,  connective,  areolar,  white  fibrous,  elastic,  gela- 
tinous, adenoid,  and  adipose.  The  body  has  seven  forms  of  epi- 
thelium: the  squamous,  spheroid,  columnar,  transitional,  endo- 
thelial, and  special.  There  are  seven  great  systems  which  enter 
into  its  construction:  the  osseous,  muscular,  nervous,  circula- 
tory, reproductive,  glandular  (including  the  digestive),  and  integu- 
mentary ( including  the  respiratory).  There  are  jseven  layers  of 
the  skin:  epidermis  (cuticle),  rete  mucosum  (pigment),  papillae, 
corium,  fat  cells,  fibrous,  and  areolar  layers.  There  are  seven 
functions  of  the  skin:  limiting,  common  sensation,  heat,  cold, 
pressure,  cooling  ( perspiration),  and  protective  (hair).  There 
are  seven  divisions  of  the  eye:  cornea,  aqueous  humor,  iris,  cili- 
ary ligament,  lens,  vitreous  humor,  and  retina.  There  are  seven 
layers  of  the  retina:  columnar  (Jacob's  membrane),  granular  (com- 
posed of  three  distinct  layers),  nervous  layer  (  consisting  of  two), 
and  membrana  limitans.  There  are  seven  divisions  of  the  brain: 
the  medulla  oblongata,  pons  Varolii,  crura  cerebri,  corpora  quad- 
rigemina,  optic  thalami,  cerebellum,  and  cerebrum.  There  are 
seven  functions  of  the  nervous  system:  the  olfactory,  optic,  audi- 
tory, gustatory,  common  sensation,  and  correlating  or  vegetative. 
There  are  seven  divisions  of  the  ear :  the  auditory  canal,  tym- 
panum, ossicles,  semicircular  canals,  vestibule,  cochlea,  membran- 
ous labyrinth.  The  blood  goes  through  seven  distinct  processes 
in  clotting,  and  in  numerous  other  ways  man's  physical  construction 
indicates  its  septenary  source.  As  he  is  yet  in  the  active  process 
of  evolution,  there  are  also  very  often  divisions  of  five,  especially 
in  the  chemistry  of  his  body.  In  fact,  such  divisions  are  very 
numerous  throughout  man's  organism,  instances  of  which  are  the 
five  senses,  five  nerves  of  special  sense,  five  layers  of  the  cornea,  etc. 
The  great  lesson  to  be  learned  from  a  study  of  the  body  as  a 
Principle,  however,  is  that  it  inhibits  or  prevents  the  conscious 
functioning  of  the  soul.  On  its  own  divine  plane — to  put  it  only 
from  a  merely  mechanical  standpoint — the  soul  uses  modes  of 
motion  which  enable  -it  to  record  conscious  sensations,  due  to 
etheric  vibrations  thousands  of  times  more  rapid  than  those  it 
uses  here.  In  molecular  matter,  it  can  see  only  so  many  things 
in  a  moment.     If  they  pass  too  rapidly,  they  are  blurred.     If  it 


38  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

retreat  inward,  towards  its  own  proper  habitation,  the  vibrations 
may  be  almost  infinitely  more  rapid,  and  it  will  record  them  every 
one,  and  life,  therefore,  becomes  proportionately  fuller  and  grander. 
How  puerile,  then,  and  how  weak  is  consciousness  upon  this  plane, 
compared  to  that  of  the  true  home  of  the  soul!  How  the  body 
limits  our  senses,  and  cripples  our  wings!  As  we  descend  from 
these  diviner  planes,  each  new  state  of  matter  draws  a  still  heavier 
veil,  so  to  say,  over  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  and  it  becomes  more 
and  more  blinded  until  it  reaches  the  very  acme  of  dullness,  and 
fancies  this  the  only  plane  of  existence,  and  imagines  itself  separ- 
ated from  all  other  human  beings.  Yet,  if  it  lay  off  but  one  of  its 
veils,  or  "Principles,"  as  in  dream,  it  can  pass  through  experiences 
in  a  few  moments  which  would  take  years  in  the  waking  condi- 
tion. If  one  could  leave  his  body  but  for  a  few  minutes,  instead 
of  passing  into  a  condition  of  nothingness,  or  of  losing  that  which 
we  term  life,  he  would  enter  upon  a  life  indescribably  more  vivid. 
So  far  from  anything  having  been  destroyed  or  lost,  the  soul 
would  realize  that  it  had  passed  into  a  higher,  more  perfect  state — 
was  functioning  upon  planes  much  more  subtle — approaching  much 
nearer  to  the  real  source  of  life  and  being.  If  this  be  the  result 
of  the  change  from  the  molecular  to  the  astral  state  of  matter, 
how  much  more  will  consciousness  expand  as  the  soul  approaches 
the  center  of  conscious  existence,  where  consciousness  and  life  are* 
real ! 

Let  us,  then,  remember  that  each  of  our  fellow-men  is  a  divine 
soul,  whose  consciousness  is  limited,  whose  senses  are  dulled, 
whose  diviner  characteristics  are  almost  destroyed  by  the  gross 
body  it  thus  temporarily  occupies,  and  we  shall  then  see  the  rea- 
son and  the  necessity  for  the  exercise  towards  each  other  of  human 
sympathy  and  charity.  The  character  which  seems  to  us  so  vile 
is  not  that  of  the  true  soul,  but  is  caused  by  the  body  with  which 
it  is  associated.  The  qualities  which  so  offend  us  are  but  the 
"  qualities"  of  Matter,  in  the  coils  of  which  the  true  soul  is  strug- 
gling. These  desires  arise  because  they  are  derived  from  a  plane 
of  existence  in  which  desire  is  normal — a  state  whose  conscious 
entities  are  naturally  filled  with  desire.  Man  synthesizes  these 
entities  into  his  body,  and  they  transmit  their  own  desires  to  him; 
and  he,  mistaking  them  for  his  own,  yields  to  them. 


THE   BODY.  39 

There  is  a  beautiful  story  told  in  one  of  Charles  Reade's  novels 
of  a  prisoner  confined  in  a  dungeon,  where  there  was  such  a  per- 
fect exclusion  of  light  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  have  any 
conception  of  the  passage  of  time.  One  could  fancy  that  in  a  few 
minutes  an  hour,  or  even  a'  day,  had  passed.  So  great  was  the 
suffering  that  many  came  out  of  it  insane.  When  this  prisoner 
was  confined  in  this  dark  cell,  the  chaplain  of  the  prison,  knowing 
the  awful  effect  that  such  confinement  had  upon  the  mind  and 
reason,  went  to  it  and  rapped  upon  the  outside,  in  order  to  let  the 
poor  occupant  know  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  walls  was  a  sym- 
pathizing, compassionate,  human  soul.  And  he  tells  how  the 
sense  of  this  compassion  enabled  the  prisoner  to  preserve  his  rea- 
son, and  also  to  pass  his  period  of  confinement  without  suffering. 
This  is  similar  to  the  condition  of  the  human  soul  in  these  bodies. 
Therefore,  each  one  of  us  should  constitute  himself  a  compassion- 
ate sentinel,  standing  upon  the  outside,  tapping  upon  the  thick 
walls  of  human  hearts,  letting  each  know  that  they  have  human 
sympathy,  and  so  feel  the  hope  and  trust  springing  from  this.  If 
we  remember  that  each  human  soul  is  a  divine  prisoner,  these 
things  which  so  offend  us  now  will  fade  away.  We  will  realize 
that  it  is  not  the  true  person  who  is  doing  evil,  but  only  one  who 
has  lost  control  of  the  passionate  body  with  which  he  is  associated, 
and  our  task  will  be  to  teach  that  person  to  regain  his  self-control, 
and  thus  help  to  make  the  whole  of  humanity  happier,  nobler,  and 
more  divine. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  LINGA  SHARIRA. 

UfHE  Second  human  Principle  is  called  in  Sanscrit  the  Linga 
^-^  Sharira,  or  Design  Body.  It  is  so  called  because  it  is  upon 
or  within  it,  as  upon  a  model,  that  the  physical  body  is  construct- 
ed. It  stands  in  the  relation  to  the  latter  that  the  astral  world  of 
the  Third  Round,  or  great  World  Period,  stands  to  this  the 
Molecular  Round,  or  Fourth  World  Period,  and  can  be  best  un- 
derstood by  remembering  this  correspondence  or  analogy.  In 
those  wonderfully  deep  and  comprehensive  generalizations  of 
evolution  which  constitute  a  portion  of  the  teachings  of  the  Wis- 
dom Religion,  the  formation  of  a  world  is  carried  backward  to 
points  in  time  compared  with  which  modern  geologic  figures  seem 
trifling;  and  it  is  to  the  third  of  these  periods,  as  concerned  with 
the  birth  and  growth  of  this  world,  that  the  "matter"  of  the  Linga 
Sharira  is  referred.  That  is  to  say,  that  this  world,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter,  has  passed  through  an  immense 
period  of  time  in  which  it  was  fiery  in  its  constitution,  after  which, 
by  a  change  in  the  rate  of  the  vibration  of  its  "  matter  "  it  cooled 
down  into  an  ethereal  state ;  thence,  by  means  of  a  still  slower  rate, 
its  matter  became  that  which  we  term  astral;  and,  finally,  by  still 
another  change  of  vibration,  it  assumed  the  coarse,  molecular  con- 
dition of  the  present  great  world  period,  or,  as  it  is  technically 
known  in  theosophical  literature,  the  Fourth  Round.  With  each 
of  these  great  world  periods,  the  forms  of  the  entities  upon  the 
earth,  including  man,  have  of  necessity  to  correspond  with  the 
matter  of  the  Round — their  bodies  being  built  out  of  it.  The 
matter  of  the  Third  great  World  Period  was  astral — that  is,  its 
rate  of  vibration,  molecular  constitution,  and  electric,  magnetic, 
and  other  properties,  were  such  that  it  assumed  this  state.  Dur- 
ing the  immense  period  involved  in  a  "Day  of  Brahma," a  Round, 
or,  scientifically,  the  length  of  time  in  which  any  particular  rate  of 
vibration  remains  the  keynote  or  dominating  motion  in  the  mat- 


THE    LINGA    SHARIRA.  41 

ter  of  a  world,  this  astral  world  was  occupied  by  all  the  hosts  of 
entities  which  we  now  find  upon  the  earth,  but  of  course  in  a  very 
much  less  progressed  state. 

Like  glazier's  putty,  "matter"  becomes  more  pliable,  more 
responsive  to  thought,  the  more  it  is  used;  and  so  this  astral  mat- 
ter has,  by  its  long  use  during  an  entire  Round,  become  so  plas- 
tic that  thought-forms  are  instantly  constructed  of  it,  as  is  experi- 
enced every  night  in  dreams.  For  the  forms  and  scenes  perceived 
in  dreams  are  actual  and  real;  are  constructed  by  the  ideative  force 
of  the  imagination  out  of  this  same  plastic  astral  matter;  and,  lor 
the  brief  period  during  which  man's  feeble  will  holds  them  intact, 
are  as  real  and  as  stable  as  any  material  forms  within  the  Cosmos. 
The  very  changes  which  are  observed  in  fleeting  or  panoramic 
dreams  are  possible  because  of,  and  due  to,  this  ability  of  astral 
matter  to  respond  to  the  vagaries  of  even  the  dreaming  imagina- 
tion, though  this  be  quite  uncontrolled  by  the  higher  mind. 

But  with  the  change  of  vibration  at  the  close  of  the  Third  great 
World  Period,  appeared  molecular  matter  as  we  perceive  it  to-day ; 
just  as  a  change  of  temperature — which  is  but  a  change  of  vibra- 
tion— in  a  saline  solution  will  cause  solid  crystals  to  appear  in 
that  which  was  before  transparent.  Such  crystals  represent  the 
exact  vibratory  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  entire  fluid  ; 
or,  to  resort  to  scientific  terms  again,  the  amount  of  heat  which 
has  become  "latent"  in  the  process.  For  it  must  not  be  under- 
stood that  all  the  substance  of  the  earth  changes  its  rate  of  vibra- 
tion at  the  end  of  each  great  evolutionary  period,  or  that  all  the 
energies  concerned  in  its  construction  become  "latent,"  except 
those  comparatively  feeble  molecular  forces  with  which  we  are 
familiar.  Only  a  small  portion,  compared  with  the  entire  mass  of 
matter,  does  so,  and  only  a  very  minute  portion  of  the  forces 
involved  pass  into  molecular  activities.  Thus,  the  earth  still  has 
the  fiery,  ethereal,  and  astral  globes  of  preceding  world  periods  ; 
each  globe  being  the  mother  liquid,  so  to  speak,  out  of  which  the 
lower  one  has  crystallized.  All  these  states  interpenetrate,  or  are 
in  a  condition,  as  again  expressed  in  terms  of  science,  of  co-aduni- 
tion,  and  constitute  the  seven  globes  of  our  earth  chain. 

The  origin  of  the  Linga  Sharira  of  Man  may  now,  perhaps,  be 


"N 


42  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

better  understood.  ihe  changes  of  vibration  which  constitute 
and  determine  these  great  world  periods,  or  Rounds,  are  due,  we 
are  taught,  to  that  which  is  termed  Monadic  impulse,  or  to  the 
almost,  if  not  quite,  direct  action  of  that  eternal  Motion  which  is 
described  in  Eastern  philosophy  as  the  "  Great  Breath."  In  its 
origin  and  essence,  it  is  alike  unknowable;  as  finite  beings  we  are 
limited  entirely  to  studies  of  its  finite  modes  of  motion.  But  of 
itself  this  Monadic  motion  is  incapable  of  producing  form,  and 
must  be  understood  as  that  of  the  Universal  or  Absolute  Monad  ; 
that  Unknowable  base  upon  which  all  the  so-called  properties  of 
matter  as  well  as  the  infinite  states  of  consciousness  within  the 
Universe  alike  rest,  for  Spirit  and  Matter  are  but  aspects  of  the 
One  Absolute,  Causeless  Cause,  and,  as  such  aspects,  are  both  con- 
ditioned and  finite.  That  portion  of  the  Absolute  which  is  at  the 
base  of  a  human  soul  is  called  the  human  monad;  and  this  monad, 
having  descended  into  the  sphere  of  finite  or  conditioned  exist- 
ence, in,  let  us  say  the  fire-mist  stage  of  evolution,  finds  itself 
incapable  of  constructing  a  form.  To  quote  the  "Secret  Doctrine":* 
"  For  the  Monad,  or  Jiva,  per  se,  can  not  even  be  called  spirit. 
It  is  a  Ray,  a  breath  of  the  Absolute,  or  the  Absoluteness,  rather; 
and  the  Absolute  Homogeneity,  having  no  relations  with  the  con- 
ditioned and  relative  finiteness,  is  unconscious  on  our  plane. 
Therefore,  besides  the  material  which  will  be  needed  for  its  future 
human  form,  the  monad  requires  (a)  a  spiritual  model  or  proto- 
type for  that  material  to  shape  itself  into,  and  (b)  an  intelligent 
consciousness  to  guide  its  evolution  and  progress,  neither  of  which 
is  possessed  by  the  homogeneous  monad  or  by  senseless  though 
living  matter." 

It  is  at  this  point  that  Eastern  Wisdom  solves  our  perplexity 
by  its  theory  of  emanations.  At  each  great  change  in  the  vibra- 
tion of  matter,  advantage  of  the  change  is  taken  by  high  creative 
beings  to  clothe  themselves  with  the  matter  which  has  thus  taken 
on  new  qualities,  both  because  of  such  change  of  vibration  and 
because  of  these  creative  beings  having  bestowed  upon  the  enti- 
ties which  ensoul  it  a  portion  of  their  own  essence  by  emanation. 
Such  creative  Beings  are  the  source  of  all  forms  in  the  so-called 
"  lower"  kingdoms,  as  they  are,  indeed,  in  all  nature. 

*Vol.  I,  p.  247. 


THE    LINGA   SHARIRA.  43 

The  form  of  Man,  then,  during  all  the  Rounds  preceding  this 
was  given  by  high  or  low  creative  beings  who  have  the  power  to 
cause  the  "  matter"  of  each  Period  or  Round  to  assume  definite 
designs.  This  is  the  key  to  the  numerous  Pitris  or  "fathers," 
which  we  find  accredited  to  Man  in  such  apparently  confusing 
and  profuse  perplexity  in  the  "Secret  Doctrine."  Each  appropri- 
ate Hierarchy  gave  to  his  Monad  the  form  it  occupied  during 
that  particular  World  Period;  and  in  doing  so  imparted,  just  as  ^ 
the  magnet  imparts  its  own  magnetism  to  non-magnetic  iron,  a 
portion  of  their  own  essence.  This  imparted  essence,  again,  is 
a  key  to  a  portion  of  the  still  more  confusing  array  of  "  Principles," 
which  seem  to  be  a  part,  and  still  not  a  part,  of  man's  complex 
being.  It  is,  however,  this  complexity  entering  into  his  consti- 
tution which  makes  Man  the  microcosm  of  the  macrocosm ;  for  as 
every  entity  in  the  universe  either  "  is,  was,  or  prepares  to  become 
a  man,"  so  do  all  the  creative  intelligences,  all  the  so-called 
"forces"  of  nature,  aid  and  conspire  to  make  Man  what  he  now 
is  and  what  he  may  become,  by  a  long  evolutionary  association 
with  (thus  bestowing  their  own  essence  upon)  him. 

In  the  Third  great  World  Period  certain  entities,  whom  we  may 
term  "human  elementals,"  and  whom,  we  are  told,  had  arrived 
at  this  stage  during  the  course  of  an  evolution  upon  the  moon, 
associated  themselves  with  the  still  unconscious  human  monad, 
and  constructed  for  it,  out  of  astral  matter,  an  astral  body — the 
prototype  of  the  present  Linga  Sharira  as  well  as  the  model  said 
to  be  needed  by  the  "  too  spiritual"  monad.  They  remained 
associated  with  the  human  monad,  and  constituted  Man's  chief 
principle  during  the  entire  Third  Round,  and  are  still  so  associ- 
ated with  him.  But  their  office  of  modeling  for  him  a  body  of 
even  astral  matter  has  ceased.  His  molecular  body  is,  as  we 
>have  seen,  built  up  of  "  pranic  lives,"  and  by  the  "  Spirits  of  the 
Earth,"  we  are  further  told.  Another  and  very  much  higher  class 
of  entities — our  own  Higher  Egos — have  taken  charge  of  the  duty 
of  furnishing  a  new  Linga  Sharira  at  each  birth,  and  the  office  of 
the  "  Lunar  Pitris"  has  become,  at  best,  only  mechanical.  They 
are  now  the  servitors  of  the  real  Man,  and  must  follow  the  designs 
laid  down  by  the  true  Man,  the  Higher  Ego. 


44  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

The  design  body,  the  Linga  Sharira,  then,  is  a  "  thought  body" 
of  the  Higher  Ego,  the  true  man,  impressed  first,  and  before  the 
physical  body  is  formed,  upon  the  plastic  astral  matter  of  the 
Third  Round.  The  Higher  Ego,  can  not  so  quickly  impress 
physical  matter,  for  this  is  yet  too  new,  hard,  and  unyielding.  But 
the  changes  which  follow,  in  the  human  form  and  features,  upon 
a  radical  change  of  thought  give  a  promise  and  prophesy  of  those 
powers  which  it  is  slowly  acquiring,  and  of  which  we  shall  see  the 
completed  fruition  at  the  close  of  this  Manvantara,  when  the 
whole  earth  will  be  but  the  reflection  of  perfected  human  Thought. 
Meantime,  astral  matter  is  utilized  because  of  its  plasticity,  and 
into  the  model  so  furnished  the  senseless — upon  this  plane — "lower 
lives"  build  Man's  form. 

What  is  the  modus  operandum  of  the  actual  construction  of 
the  Linga  Sharira?  The  Higher  Ego  can  not  be  said  to  con- 
struct it  consciously  —  or,  at  least,  not  self-consciously.  It  is 
certainly  a  creative  act  upon  the  part  of  the  soul  returning  to 
incarnation,  but  one  not  exercised  as  yet  self-consciously  by 
the  vast  majority  of  the  human  race.  For  the  exact  copying  of 
purely  physical  tendencies  as  to  size  and  shape,  or  of  low  psychic 
tricks  of  gesture,  etc.,  show  that  there  are  other  forces  at  work 
besides  the  pure,  creative  energy  of  the  Soul.  The  ordinary  child 
is  almost  an  exact  copy  of  its  physical  parents,  showing  that 
these,  too,  have  had  their  undoubtedly  subconscious  influence  in 
determining  the  new  form,  and  that  this  influence  has  been  a 
most  potent  one.  The  explanation  lies  in  the  fact  of  physical 
heredity:  that  there  are  in  our  bodies  to-day,  as  Weissmann  de- 
clares, cells  which  have  never  died  since  the  world  began.  These 
cells  are  impressed,  are,  indeed,  the  very  record  of  man's  physical 
past,  and  carry  in  their  essence  an  almost  irresistible  tendency  to 
exactly  repeat  the  old  physical  structure,  as  is  seen  in  those  lowly 
forms  where  physical  heredity  is  almost  the  sole  modifying  agency. 
Nature  opposes  this  tendency  upon  the  higher  planes  of  her  king- 
doms by  interposing  cells  from  two  differing  parents,  thus  pro- 
viding a  physical  basis  for  that  necessary  variation  which  evo- 
lutionary progress  demands — and  which  necessity  is  the  true 
reason  for  the  evolutionary  separation  into  sexes; — and,  secondly, 


THE   LINGA    SHAKIKA.  45 

the  further  modifying  influence  of  the  ideation  of  the  returning 
soul  and  of  its  physical  parents  upon  the  mental  plane.     It  is 
along  this  line  of  unstable  equilibrium  that  all  evolutionary  prog- 
ress takes  place,  and  man's  wonderfully  complex  nature  affords  it 
its  highest  field  of  activity.     Thus,  the  initiative  force — that  of  the 
returning  soul — calls  into  activity  the  "fiery  lives,"  and  the  first 
or  ideal  thought-form  upon  their  plane  is    constructed.     But  as 
this  tends  to  repeat  itself  upon  lower  and  lower  planes  of  Man's 
being,  as  his  Ego  descends  to  more  and   more  material  planes  in 
the  successive  steps  of  its  reincarnation,  more  and  more  modify- 
ing and  obstructive  energies  are  encountered.     The  subconscious 
thought  of  the  parents  is  one  source  of  these;    then   come  the 
Skandhas — sleeping  or  "  latent"  entities  representing  man's  pas- 
sional and  emotional  nature  as  expressed  or  evolved  in  past  lives, 
which  demand  modifications  that  shall  better  express  their  quali- 
ties.    All  these  are  at  work  on  the  plastic  astral  model ;  and  when 
this  finally  encounters  the  lower  cell  lives,  carrying  the  impress  of 
the  experience  and  "  habits"  of  myriads  of  ages,  the  Linga  Sharira 
succumbs:  the  divine  consciousness  of  the  soul  has  sunk  too  deeply 
into  matter  to  make  its    energies  a  potent  factor;  and  the  imper- 
fect human  form,  largely  the  repetition  of  its  physical  ancestry, 
is  the  result.     The  astral  model,  also,  is  the  reason  for  the  per- 
petuation of  species  throughout  all  nature.    In  the  lower  kingdoms 
it,  having  been,  so  to  speak,  permanently  molded  by  the  ideation 
of  the  Creative  Entities  for  the  Round,  tends,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
an  almost  exact  repetition  of  the  same  form.     As  evolution,  how- 
ever, pushes  the  entity  upward  in  the  scale  of  being,  the  complex 
factors,  which  we  have  pointed  out  as  modifying  influences  upon 
the  human  Linga  Sharira,  slowly  come  into  play;  sex  differentiation 
occurs,  and,  one  by  one,  all  the  various  modifying  evolutionary 
forces  exert  their  activites.     There  is  no  possible  reason  why  two 
cells  almost  identical  in  form  should  differentiate,  the  one  into  the 
form  of  a  delicate  fern,  and  the  other  into  that  of  a  giant  sequoia, 
except  that  this  ideal  astral  form  persists,  and  is  an  actual  model 
into  which,  just  as  in  the  human  instance,  the  forms  of  all  the 
entities  of  the  lower  kingdoms  of  nature  are  built. 

In  studying  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  Linga  Sharira  more 


46  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

specifically,  we  are  taught  that  it  dissipates,  step  by  step,  with 
the  matter  of  the  body.  This  is  because  of  the  withdrawal  after 
death  from  it,  as  well  as  from  the  physical  body,  of  the  "  fiery 
lives,"  which  gave  both  their  vitality.  This  vitality,  from  one — a 
purely  mechanical — standpoint,  is  supplied  by  the  "  fiery  lives" 
becoming  latent,  or  changing  the  rate  of  their  vibration.  It  is  anal- 
ogous to  the  disappearance  of  heat  by  crystallization,  etc.,  upon 
lower  planes.  But  in  this  case  the  latency  is  enforced  by  the 
unconsciously  exercised  will  of  the  reincarnating  entity.  Its 
tanha,  or  desire  for  physical  existence,  causes  the  "  fiery  lives"  to 
yield  to  it,  and  it  synthesizes  the  force  so  derived  into  the  con- 
struction and  preservation  of  its  body.  During  life  the  Linga 
Sharira  is  said  to  be  the  vehicle  of  Prana,  or  the  Life  Principle ; 
but  its  connection  with  this  will  be  best  studied  when  we  take  up 
the  latter  Principle.  It.  is  capable  of  passing  out  of  the  body 
during  life,  and  in  such  case  has  the  peculiar  power  of  attracting 
to  itself  physical  atoms  from  the  surrounding  atmosphere  in  such 
quantities  as  to  reproduce  a  replica  of  the  human  form.  In  cer- 
tain instances  this  projection  is,  no  doubt,  the  seat  of  the  soul 
itself  In  any  case,  the  real  physical  body  appears  languid  and 
apathetic  during  the  absence  of  this  its  astral  counterpart.  This 
power  of  attracting  to  itself  physical  atoms  resident  in  the  atmos- 
phere is  the  cause  of  the  Linga  Sharira  being  so  often  seen  by 
people  who  are  not  clairvoyant.  Given  a  death  in  which  the 
dying  person  has  intently  thought  of  some  distant  dear  one,  and 
the  Linga  Sharira  has  often  been  known  to  go,  under  the  impulse 
of  this  thought  force,  to  that  person  or  distant  place,  and  actually 
appear  as  a  more  or  less  faint  duplicate  or  image  of  the  dying 
person.  It  is  often  noticed  as  a  vague  violet  light,  or  violet  mist, 
over  the  graves  of  the  recently  dead,  and  also  in  these  cases  is 
seen  by  non-clairvoyants,  and  must  of  course  be  composed  of.mat- 
ter  capable  of  being  seen  by  the  physical  eye.  Such  visible  mat- 
ter is,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  an  attempt  at  reincarnation,  by 
reclothing  itself,  temporarily  and  faintly,  with  physical  atoms  float- 
ing in  the  atmosphere,  and  is  the  result  of  the  force  of  habit  due 
to  its  life-long  association  with  a  physical  body. 

This  power,  or  innate  tendency,  rather,  to  surround  itself  with 


THE   LINGA   SHARIRA.  47 

physical  or  molecular  matter  is  no  doubt  at  the  basis  of  most  of 
the  "  materializations"  which  take  place  at  spiritualistic"  seances." 
The  Linga  Sharira  of  the  medium  leaves,  or  oozes  out  of,  the 
body ;  the  very  capacity  for  doing  which  constitutes  one  a  "  medium." 
Once  outside  the  body,  under  the  strong,  impelling  desire  of  the 
medium,  or  of  some  of  the  sitters,  the  Linga  Sharira  becomes 
molded  into  the  form  of  some  departed  person,  and  then  attracts 
to  itself  a  sufficient  amount  of  physical  atoms  to  appear  as  solid 
flesh.  It  has,  in  fact,  become  a  solid,  though  temporary,  thought- 
form  of  some  person  present  among  the  sitters,  and  is  possessed 
of  the  limited  intelligence  which  such  thought-forms  are  capable  of 
exhibiting.  So  powerful  may  be  the  so-called  "  materialization," 
so  deceiving  the  electric  and  magnetic  forces  involved,  that  such 
"  spooks"  have  all  the  appearances  of  a  solid  physical  body;  have 
actual  weight,  though  this  has  been  known  to  vary  by  many 
pounds  within  a  very  few  moments  in  the  same  "  spook,"  upon 
being  weighed.  But  this  change  in  weight  is  doubtless  due 
more  to  an  interference  with  the  laws  of  attraction  and  repulsion, 
of  which  gravity  is  a  phase,  than  with  any  real  accession  or  de- 
parture of  actual  physical  molecules.  Many  of  these  physical 
molecules  are  drawn  from  the  sitters  present,  as  the  exhaustion 
of  those  who  are  at  all  mediumistic,  after  such  a  seance,  amply 
testifies.  The  decomposition  at  the  close  of  the  seance  of  mol- 
ecules thus  withdrawn  from  the  bodies  of  sitters  is  the  cause  of 
that  peculiarly  offensive  "  grave  odor"  which  is  always  perceived 
when  a  genuine  materialization  has  taken  place.  Of  course,  the 
Linga  Sharira  will  not  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  materializa- 
tions; it  is  only  its  part  in  this  process  that  now  concerns  us.  A 
Linga  Sharira  thus  extruded  and  materialized  is  capable  of  being 
injured  by  blows  or  violence  of  any  sort,  in  which  case,  upon  its 
returning  to  the  body,  the  marks  of  injuries  thus  inflicted  upon  it 
will  be  repeated  upon  the  medium's  body,  and  reappear  as  actual 
fleshly  injuries.  This  is  because,  being  the  model  of  the  physical 
form,  the  real  supporter  of  the  physical  cells,  when  it,  the  model, 
is  altered  the  tendency  of  the  physical  cells  to  flow  into  the  new 
design  is  almost  irresistible,  and  in  this  manner  actually  causes 
the  repetition  of  injuries  upon  the  physical  body.     This  fact  is 


48  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

known  in  spiritualistic  parlance  as  "  repercussion,"  and  the  rela- 
tion of  the  Linga  Sharira  to  the  physical  form  fully  explains 
this  otherwise  inexplicable  phenomenon.  The  capacity  to  thus 
project  the  Linga  Sharira  is  possessed  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree 
by  mediums  and  seers,  and,  Mr.  Wm.  Q.  Judge  declares,  by  the 
hysterical,  cataleptic  and  scrofulous.* 

The  organs  of  sense,  the  real  centers  for  seeing,  hearing,  tasting, 
and  smelling,  are  located  in  the  Linga  Sharira,  the  proof  of  which 
was  pointed  out  in  the  lecture  upon  the  physical  body.  Yet, 
although  man  has  thus  the  capacity  for  seeing,  hearing,  tast- 
ing, and  smelling,  or,  in  other  words,  of  exercising  all  his  senses 
upon  the  astral  plane,  his  capacity  for  so  doing  is  almost  nil 
while  in  the  physical  body,  and  is  exceedingly  limited  even  when 
disconnected  from  this  by  death.  The  exercise  of  the  astral 
senses  during  life  constitutes  a  low  form  of  clairvoyance  and 
clairaudience,  which  is  much  sought  after  by  those  ignorant  of 
their  own  nature,  and  to  whom  such  glimpses  into  the  unseen  are 
taken  for  communications  from  some  "heavenly"  sphere.  There 
is,  no  doubt,  something  which  corresponds  to  sense-organs  in  as- 
tral bodies  much  higher  than  the  Linga  Sharira;  but  as  man's 
soul  recedes  inward  these  become  less  and  less  capable  of  convey- 
ing to  him  external  impressions,  because  of  their  not  yet  being 
sufficiently  perfected  by  use.  It  will,  no  doubt,  be  a  portion  of  his 
evolution  to  perfect  these  interior  sense-organs  during  future 
World  Periods — to  become  self-conscious,  and  to  exteriorise  these 
now  subjective  planes  in  a  manner  exactly  similar  to  that  in  which 
he  objectivises  his  present  physical  environment.  Such  sense- 
organs  and  astral  bodies,  composed  of  finer  grades  of  matter  than 
is  the  Linga  Sharira,  correspond  to  the  great  hiatus  in  vibration 
which  lies  between  the  waves  of  sound,  or  those  which  affect  man's 
sense  of  hearing,  and  those  of  light,  which  appeal  to  his  organs  of 
vision.  Thus,  sound-waves  travel  at  the  rate  of  about  thirteen 
hundred  feet  a  minute,  and  are  of  variable  length,  while  waves 
of  light  travel  at  the  rate  of  184,000  miles  a  second,  and  have  a 
wave  length  of  about  1-52,000  of  an  inch.  Between  the  sense  of 
sound,  said  to  be  the  result  of  molecular  motion,  and  that  of  sight,, 

*Ocean  of  Theosophy. 


THE   LINGA   SHARIRA.  49 

attributed  to  "ethereal"  vibrations,  there  Is  evidently  an  Immense 
gulf  of  hidden  sense  potentialities.  In  the  vibrations  of  light, 
also,  there  is  evidently  an  unbroken  continuity  of  successively 
more  rapid  vibrations  above  the  violet  ray,  as  proven  by  the 
chemical  changes  produced,  and  below  the  red  ray,  with  which 
man's  color  perception  ceases  in  this  direction.  So  of  all  his 
senses.  There  are  sounds  which  he  can  not  hear;  there  are  sub- 
stances which  have  for  him  no  taste.  Into  such  realms  of  nature 
interior  senses,  located  in  finer,  more  ethereal  astral  bodies,  must 
some  time  project  him.  Thus  we  are  told,  in  the  "  Secret  Doctrine,"  • 
that  ether,  now  so  hypothetical  and  unreal,  will  become  visible  in 
the  air  towards  the  end  of  this  globe  Round  or  World  Period. 
This  does  not  mean  that  ether  is  not  in  the  atmosphere  now,  but 
that  we  are  unable  to  perceive  it;  and  prophesies,  not  the  condens- 
ation of  the  ether,  but  the  evolution  of  finer  qualities  of  percep- 
tion in  our  sense-organs. 

The  condition  of  human  consciousness  at  death  can  also  be  best 
understood,  perhaps,  by  an  examination  of  the  correspondence  be- 
tween the  separation  of  the  lower  human  Principles  and  the 
changes  of  vibration  which  limit  and  define  a  World  Period. 
Thus,  at  the  death  of  the  body,  a  period  which  corresponds  to  the 
termination  of  this  Fourth  Round,  or  molecular  World  Period,  the 
life  Principle  retreats  inward,  and  the  body  is  left  to  decay,  pre- 
cisely as  a  dead  world  in  space  decays  when  its  higher  Principles 
are  also  withdrawn,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  dead  moon,  and 
of  those  recently  dissipated  intra-Mercurial  planets  which  science 
suspects,  but  of  which  it  so  vainly  seeks  evidence.  The  soul  then 
becomes  six-principled  for  a  brief  period — has  for  its  outermost 
clothing  the  Linga  Sharira.  But  it  soon  detaches  itself  from 
this  vehicle,  for  the  Linga  Sharira  as  well  as  the  body  is  molec- 
ular. Then  the  Ego  clothes  itself  with  an  astral  form  of  finer 
matter;  or  of  that  of  a  higher  rate  of  vibration,  and  becomes  a 
five-principled  being.  That  is  to  say,  that  all  the  "lives"  with 
which  it  was  associated  upon  the  material  plane  pass  into  Pralaya, 
or  latency,  and  no  longer  disturb  the  soul  by  their  activities. 
Prana  also  disappears — which  will  be  more  fully  explained  when 
dealing  with  that  Principle.      So  long  as  there  is  the  faintest  con- 


50  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

nection  between  the  soul  and  the  Linga  Sharira  so  long  is  the  lat- 
ter capable  of  disturbing,  to  a  degree  at  least,  the  repose  cf  the 
soul.  This  is  one  reason  for  cremation,  aside  from  other  purely 
sanitary  reasons. 

Like  all  states  of  matter,  the  astral  plane  of  substance  has  its 
seven  grades,  the  lowest  of  which  passes  directly  into  the  physical, 
or  visible,  molecular  condition,  while  its  higher  States  grade  up- 
ward into  vibrations  capable  of  affording  all  those  vestments  of 
the  soul  which  constitute  its  many  "Astral  Bodies."  There  is — 
there  can  be — no  abrupt  break  between  the  vibrations  of  one 
state  and  that  of  another.  They  are  as  continuous  as  life  itself. 
Our  sense-organs  may  and  do  mark  them  off  into  distinct  planes, 
as  when  the  sense  of  sight  records  one  rate  of  vibration  as  red, 
and  one,  but  slightly  higher,  as  orange;  but  there  is  no  point  at 
which  we  can  say  that  here,  precisely,  the  red  ceases  and  the 
orange  begins.  So  with  the  after-death  states  and  the  vestments 
of  the  soul — a  portion  of  the  Linga  Sharira  remains  entangled 
within  the  cells  of  the  body,  and  dissipates  pari  passu  with  it. 
Another  portion  oozes  out  of  the  body,  forming  a  wraith  or  dupli- 
cate of  this,  and  also  affording  a  very  transient  vestment  for  the 
soul.  This,  after  being  abandoned  by  the  Ego,  is,  no  doubt,  re- 
attraoted  to  the  latter,  and  also  dissipates,  step  by  step,  with  it. 
Still  another  portion  is  used  by  the  kama-manasic,  or  lower,  mind, 
or  Principle,  to  clothe  itself  with  a  thought-form,  which  afterwards 
fades,  with  the  cessation  of  the  activities  of  this,  into  the  "spook," 
the  abode  of  the  kama-rupa,  or  that  human  elemental  which  is  the 
synthesizer  of  man's  purely  animal  body,  as  it  continues,  for  a 
more  prolonged  period,  its  existence  as  an  independent  entity  in 
kama-loka.  The  successive  abandonment  of  these  vestments,  or 
their  vibrations,  ceasing  to  possess  the  power  to  command  the 
soul's  attention,  constitute  the  key  to  the  after-death  states  of  con- 
sciousness. While  in  the  Linga  Sharira  proper,  the  state  of  the 
soul  is  that  of  calm.  Stupefied  by  the  great  change  in  its  environ- 
ment as  to  vibration,  would,  perhaps,  better  express  its  condition. 
But  as  it  recovers  from  this  shock,  as  it  gathers  itself  together,  so 
to  speak,  and  particularly  after,  by  its  own  mental  effort,  it  con- 
structs for  itself  a  body  of  astral   matter  containing  the  impress, 


THE   LINGA   SHARIRA.  5  I 

habits,  and  desires  of  the  life  it  has  just  quitted.it  is  itself  again. 
It  is  in  kama-loka — in  that  uncanny  region  where  it  is  still  under 
the  influence  of  earth  desires,  thrust  upon  its  consciousness  by 
the  vigorous  vibrations  of  this  which  has  been  well  termed  the 
"body  of  desire."  For  it  is  the  seat  of  desire  during  life,  and  still 
more  so  after  the  death  of  the  body.  But,  let  us  suppose  that 
these  earth-tending  desires  are  not  fed  or  renewed  vicariously  by 
any  foolish  medium,  to  her  own  and  the  soul's  hurt ;  then  they 
slowly  cease,  and  the  soul  falls  asleep  to  all  vibration  except  that 
of  its  own  proper  "thought  body,"  in  which  "to  will  is  to  create, 
and  to  think  is  to  see."  This  is  its  "heaven,"  its  Devachan,  its 
rest;  a  state,  from  the  standpoint  of  vibration  alone,  caused  and 
made  possible  by  the  cessation  of  all  the  activities  or  vibrations  of 
the  lower  bodies  which  it  has  cast  off,  or  to  which  it  has  become 
indifferent.  No  vibrations  reach  it  now  but  the  very  highest  and 
most  spiritual  of  its  past  life — those  unselfish,  altruistic,  and  spirit- 
ual enough  to  make  an  impress  upon  and  be  recorded  within  the 
tablets  of  the  true  soul.  The  hierarchies  of  turbulent,  passionate 
lives  with  which  he  was  associated  while  in  the  physical  body, 
and  whose  imperious  voices  he  so  ignorantly  mistook  for  the 
demands  of  his  own  soul,  have  been  hushed;  he  is  again  at  the 
fountain  source  of  his  true  being,  drinking  again  of  the  waters  of 
everlasting  life.     In  Devachan — 

"The  sin  and  shame,  the  woe  and  misery 

Will  all  have  faded.      Memory's  drifting  ships 
Will  cast  the  gall  and  wormwood  in  the  sea, 

And  bring  sweet  wines  alone  into  our  longing  lips." 

Here  the  soul  remains,  enjoying  all  the  felicities  of  its  own  div- 
inity, until  the  impulse  of  its  spiritual  nature  is  exhausted,  when  it 
again  bows  to  the  law  of  its  own  evolution;  again  yields  to  the 
sway  of  the  "  fiery  lives"  as  they  force  it  once  more  into  the 
realms  of  sensuous  existence;  constructs  for  itself  a  new  Linga 
Sharira,  into  and  upon  which  a  new  physical  body  is  builded, 
and — takes  up  its  old-life  tasks  again. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PRANA. 

I 

[TiiLE  a  portion  of  man's  Principles  are  derived  from,  or  are 
the  very  essence  of,  beings  higher  than  he,  there  are  others 
which  are  not  so  derived,  but  which  seem  to  root  in  the  very- 
Absolute  itself.  They  are  as  direct  aspects  of  the  Absolute 
in  man  (the  microcosm)  as  they  are  in  the  Universe  (or  macrocosm). 
Such  are  Atma,  man's  seventh;  Buddhi,  his  second;  and  Prana, 
the  third  Principle.  Viewed  from  a  purely  physical  standpoint, 
all  life  upon  the  earth  is  derived,  primarily  or  secondarily,  from 
the  sun,  which  seems  to  be  a  great  storehouse  for  all  forms  of 
force,  or  modes  of  motion.  Heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism, 
"vital"  force — all  radiate  apparently  from  this  great  center  of  Cos- 
mic energy.  Blot  the  sun  out  of  the  heavens,  and  this  earth  would, 
in  a  very  few  days  at  the  most,  float  aimlessly  in  space,  a  huge, 
frozen,  lifeless  corpse. 

There  are,  of  course,  other,  and  very  greatly  modifying,  con- 
ditions which  affect,  favorably  or  unfavorably,  the  continuance  of 
life  here,  such  as  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  to  the  sun, 
the  percentage  of  moisture  in  the  atmosphere,  etc.;  but  as  these 
are  but  secondary  causes,  at  best,  whose  primaries  depend  upon 
the  sun  for  their  modifying  influence,  the  latter  may  be  said  to  be 
truly  the  giver  of  physical  life  to  the  earth.  This  life  seems 
to  be  the  result  of,  or  due  to,  motion  or  vibration,  which  latter 
is  transmitted  to  the  earth  by  means  of  a  medium  which  science 
conjectures  to  be  its  "  ether,"  and  reaches  the  earth  in  the  form 
of  vibrations.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  exactly  the  conclusions 
of  science,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  these  vibrations  reach  and 
react  upon  the  molecular  matter  of  the  earth,  repeat  uncon- 
sciously the  occult  formula  as  to  the  mode  in  which  Prana,  or  the 
Life  Principle,  is  related  to  the  human  body.  Just  as  the  vibra- 
tions from  the  sun  are  transmitted  by  an  intermediary  agent — 
the  ether, — so  does  Occultism  declare  that  Prana  reaches  the  body 


PRANA. 


53 


through  and  by  means  of    an  astral  or  ethereal  body — the   Linga 
Sharira. 

But  one  must  not  fall  into  the  error  of  confusing  these  vibrations 
in  the  ether  with  Prana,  or  the  Life  Principle  itself.  That  would 
be  to  say  that  the  vibrations  set  up  in  the  Linga  Sharira  by 
Prana  constituted  the  essence  of  Prana  itself,  and  would  land  one 
in  the  purely  materialistic  theory  of  the  mechanical  origin  of  all 
life.  !  Prana  roots  in  Absolute  Motion — in  the  force  or  will-aspect 
of  the  Causeless  Cause.  The  Sun  is  the  active  agent  in  its  stor- 
ing, and  the  "  ether"  or  some  intermediary  substance  in  its  trans- 
mission to  the  earth,  but  the  Life  Essence  itself  is  something 
quite  apart  from  the  mechanical  vibrations  which  transmit  it,  or 
exhibit  its  presence 

It  is  but  the  effects  of  Prana  acting  in  the  atoms  of  astral  or 
ethereal  matter  that  science  is  vainly  striving  to  materialize  in  its 
hypothesis  of  the  ether.  In  its  real  essence  or  nature,  Prana  is, 
of  course,  undiscoverable;  for  that  which  Occultists  classify  as 
Prana  is  but  the  phenomenal  manifestation  of  the  universal  Life 
Principle  acting  upon  the  plane  of  molecular  substance.  This 
universal  Life  Principle  may  be  said  to  be  one  of  three  hypostases 
of  the  Absolute  ;  which  hypostases  appear  to  our  perception  as 
Motion,  Substance,  and  Consciousness.  Into  one  or  other  of 
these  infinite  aspects  of  the  Absolute,  or  Causeless  Cause,  every 
finite  phenomenon  finally  resolves  itself.  They  are  the  Absolute 
as  this  is  reflected   in   Time  and   Space.      They  are,  as  we  have 

seen,  never  dissociated   under    manifested    conditions the  onlv 

ones  which  finite  minds  are  capable  of  comprehending; can  not 

even  be  thought  of  separately.  Consciousness,  often  spoken  of 
as  Spirit,  is  at  the  base  of  all  ideation,  perception,  and  sensation. 
Substance  furnishes  the  material  substratum  for  all  form,  and  is 
the  medium  in  which  Motion  (will  or  force)  is  clothed,  as  well  as  the 
vehicle  for  the  manifestation  of  Consciousness.  Motion  divested 
of  all  other  attributes  represents  the  Universal  Life  Principle  in 
the  Universe— is  Life,  in  its  very  essence,  it  would  seem;  for  if 
motion  ceases  upon  any  plane,  so-called  death  upon  that  plane 
occurs  at  once,  and  the  entity  which  was  clothed  in  the  substance 
in  which  motion  has  thus  ceased   must  retreat  or  follow  the  life 


54  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

vibration  to  other  and  inner  planes.  If  we  look  upon  the  human 
monad  as  a  ray  from  the  Absolute,  and  as  therefore  containing 
potentially  the  three  aspects  or  hypostases  of  this,  then  its  con- 
scious aspect  may  be  thought  of,  or  distinguished,  as  Atma;  its 
Substance  aspect  as  Buddhi,  or  the  Akasa,  or  "  mulaprakriti,"  of 
Eastern  philosophy;  and  its  active  or  life  aspect  as  Jiva.  Indeed, 
this  seems  to  be  the  sense  in  which  these  two  Sanscrit  words, 
"Jiva"  and  "Atma,"  are  used  in  much  theosophic  literature. 
It  is  only  when  Jiva,  or  the  manifested  aspect  of  Absolute  Life 
or  motion,  reaches  the  molecular  plane  of  the  Universe  that  it 
is  termed  Prana,  and  is  then  classed  as  the  third  human  Principle. 
It  is  evident  that  it  is  no  more  a  Principle  in  man  than  it  is  in 
the  rock,  the  vegetable,  the  animal,  or  in  any  form  composed 
of  molecules.  It  is  simply  the  aspect  of  Jiva,  the  universal  life 
Principle,  upon  this,  the  molecular  plane  of  the  universe.  Life  is 
everywhere;  in  every  conceivable  point  in  space  it  is  potentially, 
if  not  actually,  present.  Being  the  motion  or  will-aspect  of  the 
unknowable  Causeless  Cause,  it  must  pervade  every  possible 
region  in  all  the  inconceivable  abysses  of  space.  Therefore,  when 
Prana,  that  aspect  of  the  universal  life  Principle  acting  in  molecu- 
lar substance,  passes  from  form  to  form  of  such  matter,  it  simply 
abandons  one,  at  the  so-called  I' death"  of  this,  to  associate  itself 
with  another;  assuming  during  the  brief  interval  (if,  indeed,  there 
really  be  an  interval)  its  jivic  or  universal  life-aspect  again.  For 
Prana  of  itself  is  unable  to  construct  a  molecular  form,  or  even  to 
maintain  or  preserve  one  beyond  the  cycle  of  the  entity  which  has 
synthesized  it  and  so  made  a  molecular  form  possible.  Just  as 
we  have  seen  in  our  study  of  the  Linga  Sharira  that  the  human 
monad  is  unable  to  create  (synthesize)  for  itself  a  form,  but  that 
conscious  entities  have  to  do  this  for  it,  so  also  this  Pranic  aspect 
of  the  universal  life  Principle  is  guided  in  its  workings  in  lower 
forms  by  entities  who  synthesize  or  construct  such  lower  "  lives"  into 
forms,  and  control  and  direct  the  forces  of  Prana  so  long  as  this  asso- 
ciation continues.  Thus,  Prana,  from  another  point  of  view,  may  be 
described  as  the  force  of  the  "fiery  lives" — the  first  and  "fiery"  differ- 
entiations of  the  homogeneous  substance  of  planes  above  the  molec- 
ular, and  even  the  atomic — which,  synthesized  ancT  coordinated  in 


PR  ANA.  55 

a  manner  to  be  described,  builds  into  the  form  of  cells  the  lower 
Pranic  molecular  "  lives."  These  cells,  again,  are  synthesized  into 
an  appropriate  form  by  the  entity  thus  swinging  into  the  objective 
arc  of  its  life  cycle,  and  Jiva  now  becomes  Prana,  because  its  energy 
is  directed  to  and  acts  within  the  molecular  plane  of  substance. 
But  the  action  of  the  "  fiery  lives,"  thus  sweeping  downwards,  or 
(to  coin  a  term)  molecular-wards,  would  be  chaotic,  as  we  have 
seen,  and  quite  unintelligent  as  regards  this  plane,  were  not  this 
action  directed  to  the  production  of  a  particular  form  by  the  molds 
or  models  cut  and  shaped  in  astral  matter  (which  matter  we  have 
also  seen  when  dealing  with  the  Linga  Sharira  to  have  the  quality 
of  responding  instantaneously  to  thought)  by  the  action  of  idea- 
tion. The  endeavor  was  made,  in  the  chapter  referred  to,  to  point 
out  the  source  of  and  the  various  modifying  influences  acting  upon 
the  Linga  Sharira,  or  the  model  for  the  human  form.  This  guid- 
ing influence  thus  exerted  upon  the  action  of  the  "fiery  lives" again 
illustrates  how  complex  is  the  origin  of  man's  form  even,  and  how 
all  his  Principles  act  and  react  upon  and  within  each  other  in  com- 
pleting his  many-sided  nature.  The  withdrawing  of  the  Higher 
Ego  does  not  release  the  synthesis  of  Prana  necessary  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  human  form;  it  only  leaves  man  an  intellectual  ani- 
mal; but  the  withdrawal  of  the  "Animal  Soul"  of  the  older  classi- 
fications, or  of  that  (human)  elemental  which  synthesizes  the  action 
of  Prana  in  the  human  form,  exactly  as  lower  elementals  do  in  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  means  the  surrender  of  the  human 
form  to  the  uncontrolled  action  of  the  lower  lives,  who  soon  tear 
and  rend  it  asunder.  Then  Prana  as  a  human  Principle  disappears, 
which  is  to  say  that  the  coordinated  action  of  the  "fiery  lives"  dis- 
appears. Prana  does  not  disappear;  its  activity  is  now  greater 
than  before;  but,  being  no  longer  synthesized  and  coordinated, 
causes  the  so-called  death  and  disintegration  of  the  body.  It  is 
thus  evident  that,  as  thought  has  the  power  to  cause  substance  to 
take  form,  so  have  all  centers  of  consciousness,  from  atom-soul  to 
god,  the  power  to  receive  from,  or  to  assimilate  out  of,  the  unknow- 
able Fount  of  Life  enough  of  Jiva  or  Prana,  as  the  case  may  be, 
to  bestow  vitality — using  Western  and  highly  inaccurate  phraseol- 
ogy— upon,  or,  according  to  Eastern   philosophy,  to  synthesize  it 


56  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

vj  in,  their  respective  bodies,  and  that  when  they  abandon  these  mate- 
rial forms  they  withdraw  this  synthesizing  influence  or  power. 
But  such  abandoned  forms  have  still  within  them  the  Prana  or  Life 
Principle  appropriate  to  a  lower  plane  of  consciousness. 

This  power  to  thus  assimilate,  or,  as  Mr.  Judge*  puts  it,  to 
*' secrete,"  Prana  out  of  the  great  ocean  of  Jiva,  which  every  con- 
scious entity  from  atom  to  god  possesses,  is  one  derived,  no  doubt, 
from  the  very  Absolute  itself;  results,  indeed,  because  life  (or 
motion)  substance  and  consciousness  are  always  associated — are 
but  aspects  of  the  one  indivisible,  omnipresent  Absolute.  Life 
and  force,  or  motion,  are  indissolubly  associated;  and  when  the 
force  of  modern  science  becomes  "latent"  it  only  means  that  the 
eternal  motion  has  changed  its  rate  of  vibration — has  passed  into 
a  lower  plane  of  substance  as  well  as  of  consciousness.  Life  is 
thus  seen  to  be  one,  indestructible  and  continuous,  and  death  but 
a  change  in  the  conditions  of  its  manifestation.  The  third  human 
principle  is  shown  to  be  a  universal  one;  and  is  called  Prana 
merely  to  distinguish  one  field  of  the  operation  of  this  universal 
Principle. 

Let  us  now  look  for  a  moment  at  the  question  of  Life  from  its 
purely  physical  aspect.  Materialists  have  in  vain  sought  for  its 
mysterious  origin  in  the  "  matter"  which  constitutes  their  god. 
For  many  years  spontaneous  generation,  or  abiogenesis,  as  it  is 
scientifically  termed,  was  universally  believed  in,  and  was  an 
immense  support  to  the  materialistic  hypothesis.  If  it  were, 
indeed,  possible  for  blindly  working  forces  to  push  inorganic  or 
lifeless  matter  up  out  of  the  mineral  into  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms,  then  the  origin  of  life  and  consciousness  might,  with 
some  show  of  reason,  be  attributed  to  certain  properties  of  mat- 
ter— which  is  the  materialistic  claim.  But  later  and  still  more 
"scientific"  researches,  by  Pasteur  and  others,  have  completely 
disproven  the  spontaneous-generation  theory,  so  that  one  of  the 
most  important  of  the  strongholds  of  materialism  has  been  demol- 
ished to  its  very  foundations.  Science  has  now  to  loo.<  beyond 
the  mere  properties  of  matter  if  it  would   find  even  a  working 

*Ocean  of  Theosophy. 


PRANA.  57 

hypothesis  to  explain  the  origin  of  life.  And  this,  indeed,  it  is 
beginning  to  do.  Many  of  its  greatest  exponents,  including 
such  devoted  adherents  as  Huxley  and  Haeckel,  admit  the  impos- 
sibility of  abiogenesis  at  present,  but  claim  that  in  distant  periods 
of  the  world's  evolution  there  was  a  time  when  the  magnetic, 
electric,  temperature,  and  other  conditions  prevailing  upon  the 
earth  were  such  that  that  which  has  since  become  impossible 
was  possible  then;  that  then  matter  did  respond  to  force,  and 
the  organic  appear  out  of  the  inorganic — using  these  terms,  of 
course,  in  the  older  scientific  sense.  Such  scientists  are  very 
nearly  in  accord  with  the  theosophic  theory  of  evolution.  For 
Theosophy  teaches  that  the  door  for  monadic  ingress  was  closed 
at  the  middle  of  this  Round;  which,  put  in  scientific  terms, 
means  that  at  that  period  spontaneous  generation  ceased,  be- 
cause of  the  earth  having  reached  its  lowest  condition  of  mate- 
riality— one  so  low,  indeed,  that  spirit  or  thought  is  unable  to 
act  upon  it  directly,  but  must  approach  it  through  the  medium 
of  the  finer,  more  plastic  astral  matter,  of  the  preceding  Round 
or  World  Period.  But  as  to  the  nature  of  the  force  causing  their 
so-called  spontaneous  generation,  these  thinkers  are  as  far  from 
the  theosophic  conception  as  are  the  poles  asunder.  For  with 
them  the  appearance  of  form  is,  after  all,  but  blind  force  taking  the 
direction  of  the  least  resistance;  while  for  Theosophists  astral  forms 
followed  by  molecular  ones  is  the  action  of  force  representing  the 
will  of  conscious  thinking  entities,  which  entities  are  the  real  cre- 
ators of  all  form.  Blind  force  taking  the  direction  of  either  the 
least  or  greatest  resistance  never  has  produced  nor  never  can  pro- 
duce form.  So  deeply  philosophical  is  the  theosophic  concep- 
tion of  the  origin  of  life  that  it  is  recognized  that  even  the  Spirit- 
ual Monad,  after  its  differentiation  within  the  Absolute  and  its 
start  downward  through  its  cycle  of  manifested  existence,  is  still 
unable,  as  we  have  seen,  to  construct  for  itself  a  form,  but  needs 
the  assistance  of  thinking  entities,  farther  differentiated  and  so 
relatively  lower  than  itself,  to  accomplish  this.  Theosophists, 
indeed,  recognize  that  there  was  a  time  when  spontaneous  gener- 
ation (but  not  that  of  the  scientists)  was  a  universal  fact  and  factor 
throughout  nature.    This  period  is  represented  by  the  Third  Round, 


T^ 


58  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

when  the  earth  was  composed  of  the  astral    matter    previously 
described,  and  the  first  half  of  this,  or  the  Fourth  Round. 

The  type  of  all  life  upon  the  earth  is  the  cell,  and  it  is  from  cells 
that  all  the  wilderness  of  forms  which  we  see  in  nature  about  us 
are  built  up.  The  earth  itself  represents,  as  do  all  earths  and  suns, 
but  an  immense  cell  made  up  of  an  infinite  number  of  lesser  cells, 
and  stars  and  planets,  even  in  their  fcrm,  conform  to  the  cellular 
or  spherical  model. 

Abiogenesis,  or  the  spontaneous  generation  of  the  scientists, 
having  been  disproved,  and  Occultism  declaring  that  the  door  for 
monadic  ingress  closed  at  the  middle  of  the  Fourth  Round,  it 
remains,  then,  to  examine  the  nature  of  the  real  physical  basis  of 
life,  or  the  means  by  which  physical  forms  are  transmitted  from 
parent  to  offspring.  The  theory  most  in  accord  with  the  occult 
teaching,  and  one,  indeed,  which  explains  purely  physical  hered- 
ity correctly,  is  that  of  Weissmann.  He  declares  that  there  is  one 
cell,  formed  by  the  union  of  the  male  and  female  plasm,  from 
divisions  and  modifications  of  which  the  entire  human  form  is  built 
up.  That  is  to  say,  that  every  cell  in  the  human  body  has  a 
minute  portion  of  this  original  cell,  and  that  by  means  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  matter  of  this  primordial  cell  in  every  cell  of  the  body 
physical  heredity  is  carried  forward.  These  primordial  cells  repre- 
sent the  completed  type  of  life  on  their  plane,  for  they  are  seven- 
fold in  their  constitution  They  have  a  germinal  spot,  a  nucleolus, 
a  nucleus,  a  membrane  limiting  the  nucleus,  a  cell  plasm,  and  an 
inner  and  outer  membrane  of  the  cell  proper.  Such  perfect  cells, 
then,  are  capable  of  being  used,  through  various  modifications  of 
them,  in  order  to  build  up  the  multiform  tissues  of  the  body;  and 
it  is  the  various  subdivisions  of  these  germinal  cells  with  which 
the  hierarchies  of  elementals  clothe  themselves  in  building  up 
the  human  form.  Thus,  each  living  being,  of  whatever  degree,  now 
clothed  in  flesh  has  within  it  certain  cells  which  have  never  died 
since  the  time  that  the  primordial  "  matter"  of  this  earth  yielded  to 
the  primordial  impress  of  "spirit,"  or  the  modifying  associations  of 
spiritual  entities  seeking  re-embodiment.  Such  cells  are,  as  Weiss- 
mann points  out,  relatively  eternal;  and  are  handed  down  from  par- 
ent to  offspring,  and  with  them  comes  all  the  modifying  influences 


TRANA.  59 

of  past  associations  as  to  form  and  physical  functions.  There  is 
little  if  any  doubt  but  that  any  entity  now  upon  the  earth  has 
been  here  many,  many  times  before,  clothed  in  a  similar  material 
form  to  that  which  it  now  occupies,  and  which  it  only  very  slowly 
modifies  under  the  stress  of  its  necessity  for  developing  new  ave- 
nues for  consciousness.  The  real  entity,  however,  is  concealed, 
and  its  presence  only  revealed  by  the  material  form  it  occupies, 
and  which  is  but  the  outward  expression  of  such  an  inner  presence. 

The  physical  basis  of  life,  then,  is  these  non-dying  cells,  handed 
down  from  parent  to  offspring,  and  bringing  with  them  the  impress 
of  the  entire  physical  characteristics  of  both  parents,  which  meet 
and  blend  in  the  new  form  so  provided.  The  spiritual  plasm  or 
force  is  that  synthesized  by  the  reincarnating  entity,  whose  func-  - 
tion  it  is,  as  we  have  seen,  to  control  the  action  of  Prana  in  the 
lower  hierarchial  "lives,"  so  that  this  form  can  be  constructed  and 
maintained. 

The  maintenance  of  the  integrity  of  the  physical  form  is  effected 
by  a  constant  synthesizing  effort  upon  the  part  of  the  inner  entity.  * 
It  is  the  expression  of  its  will  to  live;  the  sum  of  its  desires  for 
sensuous  existence.  The  force,  which  is  but  a  phase  of  will-power, 
is  exerted  subconsciously  in  all  instances.  Thought  can  and  does 
modify  this  force;  but  few  among  mortals  know  how  to  direct  it. 
Sickness  is  thus  due  to  failure  on  the  part  of  the  entity  to  control 
or  synthesize  the  action  of  Prana  in  its  organism.  The  natural 
action  of  the  "fiery  lives"  is  always  at  war  with  this  synthesizing  . 
effort,  and  unless  the  man  has  cultivated  his  will  strongly  in  this 
direction  very  little  suffices  to  turn  the  balance.  When  one  has 
cultivated  or  strengthened  his  will  to  live  in  past  lives,  in  this  one 
he  will  be  said  to  be  full  of  "vitality," — in  other  words,  Prana  will  - 
be  under  his  control, — while  the  ordinary  man  will  be  threatened 
by  foes,  both  within  and  without.  Any  violation  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  any  infection  or  injury — the  thousand  pitfalls  which  sur- 
round man's  footsteps — disturbs  the  balance  of  Prana,  and  shortens 
his  life.  So  universally  is  life  shortened  by  our  ignorance  and  will- 
fulness that  its  span,  which,  we  are  taught,  ought  to  cover  some 
four  hundred  years,  does  not  average  a  tenth  of  this  period. 

One  of  the  chief  foes  to  the  proper  acton  of  Prana  is  to  be 


60  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

found  in  the  parasites,  or  "microbes,"  which  have  their  normal 
habitation  in  and  upon  man's  tissues,  as  they  also  have  in  and 
upon  those  of  every  entity,  however  minute.  These  are  the  act- 
ive agents  in  the  final  disintegration  of  the  body  when  death 
occurs — as  was  stated  in  the  chapter  upon  the  body.  But  these 
microbes,  as  we  have  also  seen,  must  not  be  confused  with  the 
«'  lives"  from  which  the  human  body  is  constructed.  The  microbes  <T 
of  science  are  true  parasites,  and  are  never  built  into  the  tissues 
of  the  body  as  constructive  material.  The  microbes  spoken  of  in 
the  "  Secret  Doctrine"  are  the  minute  "lives"  of  which  the  tissues 
of  the  body  are  built  up,  and  are  classified  in  the  "  Secret  Doctrine" 
as  belonging  to  "  the  first  and  lowest  subdivision — that  of  material 
Prana,  or  Life."  When  we  consider  that  there  are  well-known 
and  well-studied  bacteria  which  it  requires  a  microscope  with  a 
magnifying  power  of  several  hundred  of  diameters  to  disclose,  the 
excessive  minuteness  of  these  molecularly  clad  lives  can  begin  to 
be  appreciated.  Every  entity  with  a  form  independently  con- 
structed has  these  its  natural  enemies,  and  the  human  form  is  no 
exception.  All  diseases  which  have  been  and  are  being  traced  to 
germs — a  large  and  constantly  increasing  class — are  due  to  the 
restraining  action  of  the  entity,  working  through  the  "fiery  lives," 
being  inhibited.  All  diseases  of  any  kind  are  due,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  to  the  same  cause;  and  all  true  remedies  either  act 
as  germicides  upon  the  microbes,  or  as  centers  of  modifying  vibra- 
tion in  organs  in  which  the  action  of  Prana  is  so  disturbed.  The 
selective  action  not  only  of  remedies,  but  also  of  the  tissues  them- 
selves in  taking  their  proper  nutriment  out  of  a  common  and  highly 
heterogeneous  stock  of  food,  is  due  to  an  unison  or  chord  between 
the  Pranic  vibration  of  such  remedy  or  food  and  the  normal  or 
abnormal  vibration,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  the  healthy  or  diseased 
tissues,  which  they  thus  help  in  the  one  case  to  build  up  or  in  the 
other  to  restore  to  the  normal  function. 

The  "fiery  lives"  through  which  the  Pranic  energy  is  transmitted 
give  of  their  own  essence  to  the  lower  molecular  lives,  which  they 
thus  build  up  by  merging,  as  it  were,  into  these  lower  lives  for  the 
time  being.  The  process  would  seem  to  be  similar  to  that  which 
takes  place  when  heat  becomes  latent,  or  a  modification  of  vibra- 


PRANA. 


6l 


tion.  Changes  in  the  vibratory  action  of  its  molecules  will  cause 
the  vapor  of  water,  for  instance,  to  pass  by  successive  steps  into 
the  liquid  and  then  into  the  solid  state.  So  the  Pranic  vibrations 
of  the  "fiery  lives,"  or  of  those  entities  constituting  the  ultimate 
division  of  matter  within  the  Cosmos,  pass  by  a  similar  modifi- 
cation of  vibration  into  these  molecular  lives  or  states.  But  this 
action  of  the  "fiery  lives"  is  also  subject  to  the  universal  law  of 
-A  cycles,  and  it  is  this  cycHc  action  which  sets  a  limit  to  life  upon 
the  molecular  plane,  despite  the  will  of  the  Ego  to  live.  Thus  the 
body  of  even  an  Adept  would  yield  to  this  law  of  periodicity  when 
the  downward  sweep  of  the  "fiery  lives"  came  to  its  normal  close. 
This  fact  alone  negatives  such  theories  of  prolonged  life  as  are  set 
forth,,  for  example,  in  Bulwer  Lytton's  "  Zanoni."  While  the  nor- 
mal length  of  life  is  stated  to  be  very  much  longer  than  that  of 
the  ordinary  individual,  still,  there  is  a  limit  to  continuance  in  a 
physical  body,  and  this  limit  is  determined  by  the  action  of  Prana 
itself,  as  manifested  in  these  "fiery  lives." 

Without,  then,  attempting  to  solve  the  ultimate  origin  or  nature 
of  life,  which  loses  itself  in  the  abysses  of  the  Unknowable,  we 
can,  in  a  mechanical  sort  of  way,  trace  the  action  and  understand 
the  nature  of  Prana  in  its  working  in  our  bodies,  as  well  as  in 
nature  about  us.  Never  losing  sight  of  the  fact  that  motion  - 
(force),  substance,  and  consciousness  are  always  associated  upon 
this  plane  of  manifestation,  we  can  peceive  that  the  coming  into 
being  of  the  "fiery  lives"  is  the  result — in  one  aspect,  and  that 
grossly  materialistic — of  a  change  in  the  rate  of  vibration  in  inner, 
or  to  us  subjective,  or  spiritual  spheres.  It  is  the  descent  of 
"  spirit"  into  "  matter,"  for  by  this  change  of  vibration  that  aspect 
of  the  Absolute  which  appears  to  us  as  matter  becomes  ascendant. 
Thus,  the  "fiery  lives"  will  represent  the  first  ripple  upon  the 
ocean  of  manifestation,  from  our  point  of  view.  They  may  seem 
as  gross  as  the  granite  rock  to  beings  higher  than  we.  And, 
mechanically  again,  they  represent  the  higher,  spiritual  vibrations 
becoming  latent,  or  potential  only,  upon  this  almost  homogeneous 
plane.  But  the  vibrations  of  these  "fiery  lives,"  thus  limited  and 
bound  by  differentiation  are  almost  of  infinite  rapidity,  compared 
with  those  which  they  assume  when  they  again  descend  into  the 


62  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

still  lower  material  latency  of  the  "lives"  and   "matter"  out  of 
which  our  bodies  are  constructed. 

The  universe  is  thus  seen  to  be  one  vast  laboratory  of  life, 
wherein  this  mysterious  essence  is  working  in  infinite  variations, 
through  infinitely  different,  yet  harmonious,  modes  of  manifesta- 
tion. We  are  ourselves  but  as  drops  in  this  infinite  ocean  of 
existence;  our  very  bodies  composed  of  innumerable  lower  lives, 
in  the  one  universe  of  Being.  As  we  act  in  relation  to  these 
lower  lives,  so  will  they  react  upon  us  in  our  next  association  with 
them,  for  there  is  but  small  doubt  that  we  are  associated  for  almost 
an  infinite  length  of  time  with  the  same  Pranic  lives,  which,  again 
and  again,  build  bodies  similar  to  those  in  which  we  now  find  our- 
selves. Therefore,  the  lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  study  of  so 
abstract  a  Principle  as  Prana  even,  is  the  necessity  for  an  upright 
life,  for  brotherliness  towards  each  other;  a  life  of  purity,  of  moral- 
ity, aud  of  altruism. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FOURTH  PRINCIPLE  — KAMA,  OR  DESIRE. 

'H^'HE  state  of  consciousness  which  constitutes  the  fourth  human 
^-^  Principle,  according  to  the  theosophical  classification,  is  a 
most  difficult  one  to  understand.  It  will  be  easier  to  do  so  if  we 
remember  that  consciousness  is,  at  its  base,  Unity,  and  that  all 
of  the  human  Principles  are  but  aspects,  or  hypostases,  of  this 
basic,  or  monadic,  Unity.  When  the  centers  of  consciousness 
differentiate  within  the  Absolute,  and,  thus  proceeding  directly 
out  of  the  Unknowable,  start  on  their  cycle  of  evolution  from 
atom-soul  to  God,  they  arrive  at  a  point  in  this  Cycle  of  Necessity 
where  the  homogeneous,  monadic  consciousness,  through  material 
limitations  following  one  upon  another  in  a  continuous  descent 
into  deeper  and  deeper  phases  of  materiality,  becomes  embodied 
desire.  It  must  be  understood  that  all  consciousness,  in  manifes- 
tation, is  embodied — that  is  to  say,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that, 
except  in  the  abysses  of  the  unmanifested,  there  is  any  general 
consciousness  which  may  be  classified  as  desire,  and  in  which,  as 
a  common  source,  the  passions  of  entities  in  this  state  of  conscious- 
ness root.  All  thought-consciousness  in  the  manifested  universe 
is  contained  in,  or  manifested  by,  thinking  entities;  similarly 
rajasic,  or  desire,  consciousness  is  likewise  manifested  and  con- 
tained in  entities  to  whom  this  aspect  or  differentation  of  conscious- 
ness is  normal.  It  is  when  entities,  which  start  as  an  atom  and 
complete  their  cycle  of  manifested  existence  as  a  god,  have  passed 
through  all  the  lower  kingdoms,  have  added  conscious  state  to 
conscious  state  until  they  have  arrived  at  a  point  where  sensuous 
consciousness  rules  in  them,  that  they  are  said  to  be  in  the  kamic 
state — to  be  swayed  and  governed  by  Kama,  the  Principle,  or 
vehicle,  of  Desire.  For  Desire  must  be  sharply  distinguished 
from  Thought.  Kama  is  desire — desire  in  all  its  infinitely  varying 
aspects,  as  Manas  is  thought  or  ideation  in  all  its  infinite  states. 


64  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

The  kamic  state  is  that  in  which  the  desires,  together  with  the 
passions  and  emotions,  govern  the  entity;  one  in  which  there  is 
no  light  thrown  upon  their  activities  by  reason.  In  fact,  there 
is  no  reason  in  desire;  and  when  a  human  soul  yields  itself  to  the 
dominion  of  this  Principle,  reason  is  set  aside,  and  the  one  so 
dominated  becomes  but  an  irrational,  unreasoning  animal. 

It  must  not  be  understood  from  the  above  that  Kama,  or  Desire, 
is  always  unreasonable  and  irrational  in  its  nature;  but,  when 
pure  and  uncolored  by  any  higher  Principle,  it  does  represent 
desire,  and  desire  only.  Yet  desire,  and  especially  compassion- 
desire,  may  be  and  is  one  of  the  highest  and  holiest  attributes  of 
Being.  It  is  compassion-desire,  arising  within  the  bosom  of  the 
Absolute  itself,  we  are  taught,  which  causes  the  manifestation  of 
the  Universe;  thus  permitting,  and  indeed  assisting,  entities 
#whose  consciousness  is  benumbed  and  latent  during  the  intermina- 
ble periods  of  pralaya  to  again  take  up  their  evolutionary  progress 
towards  self-consciousness  and  freedom  from  limitation.  Yet 
this  deeper  desire  is  not  usually  spoken  of  as  kamic.  Just  as  the 
Universal  Life  Principle  is  distinguished  as  Jiva,  while  that  man- 
ifestation of  it  which  has  its  activity  upon  the  molecular  or  sen- 
suous plane  of  the  Universe  is  known  as  Prana,  so  Cosmic  desire, 
and  particularly  when  this  passes  into  action,  may  be  thought  of 
as  Fohat,  while  that  manifestation  of  it  which  has  its  field  of  act- 
ivity upon  the  molecular  plane  of  the  Universe  is  more  properly 
known  as  Kama.  Kama,  then,  as  the  fourth  human  Principle, 
represents  all  the  passions  and  emotions  of  man's  nature.  It  has 
its  activities  in  anger,  pride,  lust,  envy,  greed,  and  a  host  of  sim- 
ilar modifications.  It  is  a  Principle,  or  state  of  consciousness, 
which  we  share  in  common  with  the  animals  of  the  kingdom  next 
below  us  in  the  scale  of  evolutionary  becoming.  In  that  kingdom 
we  see  its  activities  dominant,  and  almost  uncolored  by  reason. 
.It  is  true  that  animal  desires  are  directed  by  instinct,  and,  there- 
fore, are  more  unerring  in  tending  to  bring  about  certain  neces- 
sary evolutionary  results  than  the  desires  of  man,  which  are  just 
beginning  to  pass  under  the  sway  of  reason.  Instinct  in  the  ani- 
mal kingdom  is  the  wisdom  attained  through  the  stored  experi- 
ence of  the  elemental  soul  of  the  animal  in  past  embodiments,  and 


FOURTH    PRINCIPLE — KAMA;   OR   DESIRE.  65 

corresponds  accurately  to  intuition  upon  its  higher  plane  of  con- 
sciousness in  man,  for  intuition  arises  out  of  the  wisdom  likewise 
resulting  from  stored  experiences  upon  the  mental  plane  of  being. 
Instinct  is  stored  up  and  assimilated  sensuous  experiences;  intui- 
tion is  stored  up  and  assimilated  mental  experiences.  From  the 
one,  the  animal  draws  unconsciously  ;  from  the  other,  the  man 
receives  light,  but  recognizes  that  it  comes  from  the  very  highest 
of  the  aspects  of  his  being.  For,  to  the  elemental  soul,  destitute  of 
Manas,  the  monadic  consciousness  of  Buddhi,  or  the  buddhic  con- 
sciousness of  its  Monad,  rather,  assumes  to  it  the  same  relation 
that  the  Higher  Ego  does  to  the  lower  thinking  Principle  in  man — 
it  stores  the  results  of  sensuous  or  conscious  experiences  in  its 
unconscious  memory.  Conscious  memory  pertains  to  the  self- 
conscious  Principle,  but  none  the  less  is  there  preserved  a  record, 
equivalent  to  memory,  of  every  conscious  experience  of  the 
Monad  in  all  the  kingdoms  through  which  it  passes.  Such  dif- 
fused and  general  consciousness  as  that  of  the  mineral  kingdom 
could  only  be  preserved  upon  universal  tablets  such  as  Buddhi; 
but  in  the  animals  it  is  already  being  stored  around  a  permanent 
center,  thus  slowly  causing  that  differentiation  and  individualization 
which  renders  possible  the  assimilation  of  Manas.  Such*storing 
about  or  upon  a  permanent  Buddhic  center  is  the  source  of  all 
instinct,  as  a  similar  storing  about  a  Manasic  center  is  that  of  all 
intuition. 

Kama,  then,  must  be  studied  in  the  animal  kingdom,  in  order 
to  know  what  this  Principle  is  in  its  purity.  In  man  it  is  impossi- 
ble, or  next  to  impossible,  to  so  study  it,  for  here  Kama  is  always 
rationalized  by  the  presence  of  the  thinking  Principle. 

Kama  as  a  human  Principle  necessitates  and  implies  the  pres- 
ence of  entities  in  the  kamic  stage  of  consciousness  among  those 
hierarchies  which  make  up  man's  body.  For  it  cannot  be  too 
sharply  borne  in  mind  that  Kama  and  Manas*  have  nothing  in 
common  as  Principles  except  the  power  of  each  to  color,  change, 
and  react  upon  the  other.  They  are  as  distinct  as  are  silver  and 
gold,  which  may,  nevertheless,  be  welded  into  one  coherent  mass. 

*  "  Kam  1"  and  "  Manas"  may  be  read  "  Desire"  and  "  Thought,"  if  this  aids  the  student 
to  a  clearer  comprehension. 


66  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

Therefore,  when  we  see  in  the  animal  kingdom  an  almost  infinite 
number  of  entities,  ruled  by  the  kamic  or  Desire  Principle,  yet 
wholly  destitute  of  the  true  Manas,  or  the  thinking,  reasoning 
Principle,  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  as  Kama  and  Manas 
have  nothing  in  common  except  the  Absolute  Consciousness  in 
which  both  have  their  origin,  there  is  also  in  man  a  kamic  entity, 
synthesizing,  perhaps,  hosts  of  lower  kamic  entities  into  that  won- 
derful, complex  system  of  sense-organs  which  relate  him  to  his 
material  environment  For,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  the  Higher 
Ego  of  man  may  abandon  the  body  and  yet  this  retain  its  full 
vigor  and  vitality.  But  the  withdrawing  of  this  synthesizing, 
kamic  elemental  means  the  inevitable  death  of  man's  body,  as  it 
does  that,  also,  of  all  animals.  In  a  Universe  composed  of  an  infi- 
nite number  of  entities  at  equally  infinitely  varying  stages  of  their 
evolutionary  becoming,  we  must  recognize  centers  of  conscious- 
ness, or  entities,  preparing  to  pass  upward  into  manhood,  just  as 
man  himself  is  preparing  to  pass  upward  into  godhood ;  so  that  the 
recognition  of  a  kamic  elemental  as  the  Chief  and  ruler  of  the 
lower  Quaternary  in  man  'is  one  warranted  by,  and  even  the  inev- 
itable outcome  of,  a  comparison  of  the  body  and  purely  animal 
functions  of  man  with  those  of  the  animals.  Except  in  the  all- 
important  difference  that  man  has  a  Manasic,  or  Thinking,  Prin- 
ciple, he  in  no  wise  differs  from  his  dumb  brethren  in  the  kingdom 
just  below  him.  The  same  sense-organs  which  he  uses  to  relate 
himself  to  nature  they  use  ;  and,  in  many  instances,  such  sense- 
organs  in  the  animals  are  far  more  acutely  developed  than  are  the 
corresponding  ones  in  man.  Indeed,  as  has  been  often  said,  with- 
out his  reasoning  power  man  would  be  but  the  most  helpless  of 
animals.  His  body  is  composed  of  the  same  molecular  constitu- 
ents as  those  of  the  animals  The  very  gray  matter  of  his  brain — 
the  materialistic  god — finds  its  counterpart  in  similar  matter  in 
the  brains  of  animals,  far  beneath  him  in  mental  development.  He 
is  born  as  they  are;  he  lives  upon  the  same  nutriment  that  they 
do;  he  dies,  and  his  body  decays  in  a  precisely  similar  manner. 
No  other  hypothesis  except  this  which  recognizes  that  man  is  an 
animal,  plus  a  living  soul  within  his  animal  body,  can  satisfy  the 
almost  innumerable  phenomena  which  bind  him  so  completely  and 


FOURTH    PRINCIPLE — KAMA,   OR   DESIRE.  67 

closely  to  the  animal  forms  beneath  him.  If  there  are  so  many 
conscious  phenomena  in  man  which  have  their  plain  equivalents 
and  counterparts  among  the  animals,  there  is  small  wonder  that 
science,  following  the  ex  parte,  inductive  method  of  Aristotle,  has 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  whole  of  man's  conscious  being  is 
but  the  evolutionary  perfection  of  these  same  conscious  phenom- 
ena exhibited  in  lower  evolutionary  stages.  That  this  opinion, 
held  by  scientists,  is  erroneous — very  erroneous — can  be  easily 
shown.  But  such  proof  falls  without  the  purview  of  the  present 
subject.  The  fact  that  there  are  phenomena  in  which  animals 
exhibit  a  consciousness  identical  with  that  possessed  by  man,  and 
which  often  exceeds  his  in  acuteness  of  perception,  is  that  with 
which  we  have  at  present  to  deal.  For  scientists  may,  indeed, 
justly  claim  that,  if  man  has  a  soul,  then  the  animals  also  have 
souls,  at  a  lower  grade  of  evolutionary  development;  which  asser- 
tion is  true,  and  in  strict  accord  with  the  theosophic  conception  of 
evolutionary  processes.  Animals  have  kamic,  elemental  souls; 
man  also  has  a  kamic,  elemental  soul,  which  is  the  chief  Rector  of 
that  counterpart  of  the  earth — his  body.  In  the  consciousness  of 
this  human  elemental  resides  Kama.  It  knows  no  other  conscious- 
ness, until  Manas,  the  thinking  soul,  incarnates,  and  thus  emanates 
upon  it  the  light  of  reason,  together  with  the  possibilities  of  both 
the  memory  of  past  sensuous  delights  and  the  anticipation  of  those 
yet  to  come.  Even  thus  illumined,  this  kamic  elemental  is  still 
the  same  reasonless  being  it  was  before,  but  with  its  power  for 
enjoying  sensuous  delights  a  thousand-Told  increased,  and  its  desire 
for  such  enjoyment  a  thousand  times  intensified. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  the  thinking  soul  welds  itself  to 
and  becomes  tainted  with  Kama,  thus  constituting  the  Kama- 
Manasic,  or  brain  mind,  which  rules  in  man  to-day — that  will  be 
the  subject  for  our  consideration  when  we  come  to  the  study  of 
the  Manasic,  or  thinking  Principle,  and  for  the  present  we  pass 
it  by. 

It  is  the  intense  desires  of  this  kamic  synthesizer  of  the  human 
body  which  largely  modifies  the  formation  of  the  human  Linga 
Sharira,  when  this  is  projected  by  the  subconscious  ideation  of 
the  incarnating  Ego.      It  is  again  the  desire  to  live  raging  in  this 


6S  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

entity,  as  well  as  desires  in  the  hosts  of  lower  entities  whose 
kamic  consciousness  it  also  synthesizes,  which  modifies  the  action 
of  the  pranic  lives,  at  work  in  the  construction  of  the  human 
frame;  while  it  itself  is  at  the  same  time  vivified  and  ensouled,  as 
it  were,  by  the  action  of  Prana  in  bestowing  life  upon  the  form 
with  which  it  and  they  are  thus  associated.  It  is  the  synthesizing 
action  of  this  kamic  elemental,  no  doubt,  which  causes  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Kama  Rupa  upon  the  death  of  the  body.  The  long 
association  during  life  with  the  human  form  causes  it,  after  death, 
to  again  surround  itself  with  a  low  form  of  astral  matter,  which 
assumes  the  shape  of  its  late  physical  body.  And  after  the  human 
soul  has  withdrawn  from  the  body  at  death,  it  still  remains  associ- 
ated with,  and  its  progress  towards  Devachan  is  hindered  and, 
indeed,  rendered  impossible  for  the  time  being  by,  the  clamors 
and  demands  arising  in  this  kamic  elemental.  For  this,  as  well  as 
many,  if  not  all  elemental  souls  in  animals,  has  a  limited  period 
of  normal,  subjective  existence  after  the  death  of  its  body. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  animals  dream,  and  this  ability  to  maintain, 
or  experience,  a  dreaming  consciousness  proves  that  they,  also, 
have  the  power  to  maintain  a  subjective  existence,  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period,  quite  independently  of  their  physical  organisms. 
And  in  the  case  of  one  in  whom  the  kamic  desires  have  been 
dominant  in  its  association  with  Manas,  then  this  kamic  elemental 
has  become  so  intellectualized  by  this  perversion  of  the  true  func- 
tion of  Manas  that  this  capacity  for  subjective  existence  is  very 
greatly  prolonged;  and,  so  long  as  this  entity  can  set  up  vibra- 
tions upon  its  own  plane  of  desire,  so  long  will  the  true  Ego  be 
unable  to  enter  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  truly  subjective 
state  of  Devachan. 

It  is  most  fortunate,  perhaps,  for  the  true  Ego,  or  human  soul, 
that  the  natural  life  cycle  of  this  kamic  elemental  is  shorter  than 
is  its  own.  Thus,  when  one  lives  out  one's  normal  life,  even  when 
this  is  shortened  by  ignorance  of  nature's  laws  by  at  least  three 
parts  of  the  time  it  ought  occupy,  still  old  age,  when  this  occurs  at 
only  seventy  or  eighty  years,  finds  the  kamic  elemental  with  its 
passionate  life  cycle  already  exhausted,  and  ready  and  eager  to 
pass  into  the  latency  of  its  subjective  existence.     This  shorter 


FOURTH    PRINCIPLE — KAMA,   OR    DESIRE.  69 

objective  cycle  of  the  kamic  elemental  seems  to  be  the  true  rea- 
son for  the  natural  disappearance  of  desires,  appetites,  and  passions, 
as  old  age  approaches.  But  the  case  is  far  different  when  acci- 
dent or  suicide  tears  the  human  soul,  together  with  its  kamic  asso- 
ciate, out  of  the  body  while  the  latter  is  in  the  very  height  of  its 
sensuous  desires.  In  this  event  it  will  clothe  itself  v/ith  a  strong 
and  powerful  Kama  Rupa;  and  it  will  be  totally  impossible  for  the 
soul  of  such  an  one  to  even  approach  the  devachanic  portals,  for 
the  clamors  of  Kama,  the  passionate  vibrations  of  desire,  will  drag 
the  ego  earthward,  whether  it  will  or  no.  Such  a  soul,  thus 
caught  within  the  grasp  of  desire,  and  with  its  own  will-power 
entirely  in  abeyance  because  it  has  never  evolved  the  power  of 
self-consciousness  upon  these  inner  planes  of  Being,  will  find  itself 
in  a  most  pitiable  and  deplorable  condition;  one  of  the  most  acute 
suffering;  one  which,  in  normal  states  of  consciousness,  is  only 
comparable  to  that  known  as  "nightmare."  Just  as  the  one  who 
is  the  subject  of  this  terrible  oppression  knows  himself  the  victim 
of  unreal  terrors  and  vainly  struggles  to  awaken,  so  will  the  soul 
of  the  suicide,  realizing  that  he  is  dead,  and  yet,  strange  to  say, 
that  he  is  not  dead,  struggle  with  all  the  agony  of  his  terror  to 
return  to  the  life  which  he  has  abandoned  through  his  own  act. 
A  similar  state  of  consciousness  will  also  attend  upon  accidental 
deaths,  or  those  occurring  in  war.  For  if  the  person  who  is  killed 
either  in  war  or  accidentally  is  of  a  low  moral  character,  then  his 
condition  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  suicide.  He  will  likewise 
clothe  himself  with  a  strong  Kama  Rupa,  and  will  be  similarly 
tempted  to  haunt  all  possible  sources  which  afford  him  avenues 
whereby  to  return  to  a  vicarious  sensuous  existence.  If,  however, 
the  person  who  dies  an  accidental  death  is  of  even  average  mor- 
ality and  goodness,  then  the  teaching  is  that  he  will  fall  into  a 
kind  of  a  dreaming  continuation  of  his  life  on  earth,  which  will 
last  until  the  normal  period  for  the  conclusion  of  that  life  is  reached, 
after  which  he  will  pass  peacefully  into  Devachan.  For  the  sui- 
cide, also,  Devachan  becomes  possible  at  the  close  of  that  which 
would  have  been  his  own  normal  life  cycle.  But  the  suicide  has 
deliberately,  of  his  own  will,  interfered  with  his  own  karma.  He 
has  cowardly  abandoned  life  because  the  circumstances  surround- 


yo  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

ing  it,  and  which  were  entirely  of  his  own  creating,  have  seemed 
to  contain  more  of  evil  than  he  was  able  to  bear.  Therefore, 
between  the  suicide  and  the  victim  of  accidental  death  there  is 
a  wide  moral  chasm.  The  suicide  must  experience  greater  pun- 
ishment because  of  his  deliberate  act;  the  accidentally  slain,  the 
lesser,  because  he  has  not  violently  and  by  his  own  free  will  inter- 
fered with  his  existence  upon  earth.  Karmic  justice  thus  demands 
only  the  inevitable  effects  following  upon  each  cause;  and  if  he 
who  dies  by  accidental  death  suffers  more  than  he  would  have 
done  had  he  lived  out  his  life  cycle,  it  is  because  of  his  moral 
unworth,  and  not  because  of  the  accidental  separation  from  his 
body.  The  motive  which  causes  the  suicide,  in  full  possession  of 
all  his  faculties,  to  deliberately  end  that  which  he  supposes  to  be 
his  existence  upon  earth,  must  always  weigh  heavily  in  the  kar- 
mic balances;  while  he  who  perishes  accidentally  is  only  entitled 
to,  and  only  receives,  the  punishment  brought  about  by  his  moral 
unworth,  and  which  is  thus  untowardly  precipitated  upon  him. 

It  will  at  once  be  apparent  that  in  these  truly  named  "  earth- 
bound"  souls  is  to  be  found  the  source  of  most  of  so  called  "spirit- 
ual phenomena."  Especially  will  the  suicide  and  the  depraved 
victim  of  accident  haunt  mediumistic  circles,  for  such  circles  pro- 
vide them  with  willing  victims  for  the  vicarious  gratification  of 
their  sensous  desires;  while  such  victims,  in  submitting  to  their 
obsession,  fancy  they  are  yielding  to  "  angel  guides"  from  some 
celestial  sphere.  And  even  after  the  soul  has  passed  into  Deva- 
chan  and  has  abandoned  the  Kama  Rupa,  which  now  remains  an 
astral  corpse,  to  slowly  dissipate  upon  the  astral  plane,  such  an 
astral  shell  may  still  be  revivified  by  the  magnetic  force,  uncon- 
sciously bestowed  through  the  medium  or  the  sitters,  into  a  false 
imitation  of  the  former  personality.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that 
through  its  long  association  with  the  body,  the  Kama  Rupa  has 
formed  numerous  habits,  both  psychic  and  of  a  low  mental  order; 
and  these,  when  it  is  thus  temporarily  revivified,  it  tends  to  repeat 
automatically,  without  the  slightest  aid  from  that  higher  mind 
which  originated  consciously  these  habits  which  the  Kama  Rupa 
repeats  automatically  and  unconsciously.  Such  a  shell  may  also 
be   made  a  kind  of  psychic  mirror,  which,  equally  automatically, 


FOURTH    PRINCIPLE — KAMA,  OR   DESIRE.  7  I 

reflects  the  thought-images  of  those  present,  and  thus  gives  back 
to  the  sitters  facts  which  they  already  well  know,  but  which  seem 
strange  and  miraculous  when  coming  from  the  lips  of  an  appar- 
ently dead  person.  These  reflected  mental  images  are  the  source 
of  many  of  the  boasted  "  tests"  of  spiritualistic  circles.  And  the 
automatic  repeating  of  its  own  habits  of  thought,  tricks  of  speech, 
and  so  on,  by  a  shell  thus  temporarily  galvanized  into  a  transient 
but  false  existence,  is  the  undoubted  origin  of  the  information 
sometimes  apparently  given  by  spirits  of  good  and  pure  people 
who  have  passed  away,  and  which  information  was  not  known  to 
the  sitters  present.  In  such  cases  the  true  ego  is  in  Devachan, 
and  undisturbed  by  any  of  the  mummery  going  on  upon  earth; 
but  its  abandoned  shell,  if  it  happen  to  drift  into  the  aura  of  such 
a  spiritualistic  circle,  may  take  on  a  false  semblance  of  life,  and 
repeat,  quite  automatically,  yet  still  accurately,  enough  of  the 
incidents  of  its  past  life  to  convince  those  present  that  the  soul 
of  such  a  one  has  really  returned  to  earth.  The  proof  that  it  is 
not  the  true  ego  lies  in  the  fact  that  such  communications  always 
refer  to  the  past;  they  never  give  new  facts  of  their  supposed 
spiritual  habitation  ;  they  never  advance  any  philosophical  explana- 
tion of  life;  they  add  nothing  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge; 
they  are  but  the  faded  echo  of  former  earth  experiences.  When 
spiritual  communications  take  the  form  of  philosophical  discussion, 
or  the  descriptions  of  "  summerland,"  or  similar  things,  the  source 
of  such  intelligence  is  again  different,  and  will  be  explained  when 
we  come  to  deal  with  a  higher  state  of  consciousness  than  the 
kamic,  which  concerns  us  now. 

All  Kama  Rupas  have  their  local  habitation  in  what  is  known 
as  Kama  Loka,  and  which  is  but  a  duplicate  of  this  earth  in  finer 
astral  matter — its  Linga  Sharira,  in  fact.  And  not  only  do  human 
Kama  Rupas  live,  pass  into  latency,  and  fade  away  here,  but  also 
the  astral  forms  of  the  lower  orders  of  life,  and  especially  the 
Kama  Rupas  of  all  members  of  the  animal  kingdom  which  have 
reached  a  sufficiently  intense  kamic  plane  to  clothe  themselves 
with  such  forms  at  death.  Therefore,  he  who,  by  means  of  a  very 
low  and  dangerous  kind  of  clairvoyance,  forces  his  consciousness 
upon  this  the  lowest  of  all  astral  planes,  will  find  himself  in  con- 


72  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

tact  with  not  only  Kama  Rupas  and  shells  of  dead  men,  but  also 
with  the  counterparts  of  dead  animals.  And  there  is  little  doubt 
that  there  have  been  cases  where  such  kama-rupic  forms  of  animals 
have  become  sufficiently  materialized  to  be  visible  to  the  non- 
clairvoyant  eye,  just  as  the  Linga  Sharira,  or  even  the  Kama  Rupa 
of  human  beings,  is  also  capable  of  clothing  itself  transiently  with 
molecular  matter,  and  also  of  becoming  temporary  visible  to  the 
ordinary  vision.  This  low  clairvoyance,  which  seems  so  desirable 
to  those  who  are  curiosity-seekers  rather  than  real  students  of  the 
philosophy  of  life,  is  the  result  of  resorting  to  practises  which  for  a 
brief  interval  free  the  soul  from  its  material  vehicles.  There  are 
many  such  ways.  Crystal-gazing  and  other  forms  of  self-hypno- 
tism are  examples.  And  unless  one  has  become  morally  pure 
when  he  separates  his  consciousness  from  his  body,  he  will  find 
himself  upon  a  plane  appropriate  to  his  unclean  consciousness. 
But  if  he  be  a  pure  and  holy  person,  with  altruistic  desires — one 
whose  passions  are  all  in  abeyance — he  need  have  no  fear  of  find- 
ing himself  in  Kama  Loka  when  he  abandons  his  material  body 
from  any  cause.  If,  however,  as  is  the  case  with  the  majority  of 
mankind,  passion  dominates  and  desires  rend  him,  he  will  surely 
land  himself  in  this  most  undesirable  of  all  conscious  states  and 
localities.  He  will  be  as  nearly  in  "hell,"  perhaps,  as  is  possible 
for  the  human  soul.  He  will  have  as  his  companions  the  sense- 
less, passionate,  ghoul-like  inhabitants  of  this  horrible  realm;  and 
if  he  do  not  become  himself,  even  while  in  the  body,  morally 
depraved,  or  mentally  unsound,  he  is  setting  up  attractions  and 
creating  causes  which  will  certainly  place  him  in  this  loka  at 
death,  and  render  his  stay  under  such  terrible  associations  pro- 
portionately long.  For  the  declaration  in  the  Bhagavad  Gita, 
that  "those  who  worship  the  dead  go  to  the  dead,"  or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  attractions  and  beliefs  which  we  cultivate  during 
life  guide  and  determine  our  post-mortem  states  or  the  intervals 
between  two  lives,  is  both  true  philosophically  and  warranted 
under  the  law  of  Karma.  Thus,  one  who  has  longed  for  inter- 
course with  the  dead,  who  has  accepted  the  gibberish  poured  out 
by  these  senseless  shells  as  the  summitm  bonum  of  all  good  that 
could  come  into  his  life,  will  most  assuredly   be  drawn   into  the 


FOURTH    PRINCIPLE — KAMA,  OR    DESIRE.  73 

kama-lokic  region  at  death;  and,  just  as  he  has  set  up  during  life 
so  many  causes  which  bind  him  to  this  plane,  his  stay  here  will  be 
proportionately  long.  On  the  contrary,  if  one  has  lived  a  truly 
spiritual  life — meaning  by  spirituality  the  cultivation  of  one's 
highest  and  noblest  faculties  and  unselfish  work  for  the  elevation 
of  humanity  and  the  study  of  the  laws  which  obtain  in  spiritual 
matter — Kama  Loka  will  scarcely  detain  him  a  moment.  He 
will  pass  swiftly  through  this  horrible,  moral  graveyard  of  putre- 
fying astral  corpses,  and  at  once  enter  upon  the  peace  and  safety 
of  Devachan. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LOWER  MANAS. 

<^N  THE  study  of  the  human  Principles  progress  is  comparatively 
(§Jr  easy  so  long  as  we  have  to  deal  with  the  lower  quaternary  alone. 
For  the  four  Principles — the  Body,  the  Linga  Sharira,  Prana,  and 
Kama — are  all  upon  planes  either  material  or  sufficiently  near  the 
material  to  be  readily  analyzed,  classified  and  understood.  But 
when  the  plane  of  mentality  is  reached  one  of  the  hardest  prob- 
lems in  human  consciousness  presents  itself.  For  there  are  in 
every  human  breast  two  forces  struggling  for  mastery — the  one 
trying  to  drag  an  indefinable  something  downward,  and  to  iden- 
tify this  something  with  itself  as  the  u  I  am  myself";  the  other  as 
strenuously  endeavoring  to  elevate  this  same  indefinable  center  of 
consciousness,  and  merge  it  with  itself  as  an  "I  am  myself"  upon 
an  infinitely  higher  plane.  It  is  as  though  the  human  soul  stood 
entirely  apart  from  both  of  these,  the  lower  being  our  animal 
nature,  and  the  higher  the  voice  of  the  divine  Inner  Ego,  or  our 
conscience,  as  it  is  ordinarily  termed.  And  yet  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  disentangle  the  soul  from  its  association  with  the  lower 
nature  upon  the  one  hand,  or  from  the  voice  of  conscience  upon 
the  other.  Therefore  it  is  that  we  have  just  spoken  of  it  as  an 
indefinable  something  which  yielded  now  to  the  one  and  again 
yearned  toward  the  other.  This  thinking  Principle  in  its  dual 
aspect  is  recognized  by  theosophic  philosophy  as  one  of  the  human 
Principles  in  its  septenary  classification.  We  have  principally  to 
deal  with  the  lower  of  its  aspects  in  this  chapter,  and  yet  this 
cannot  intelligently  be  done  without  a  brief  examination,  at  least, 
of  certain  phases  of  the  higher. 

Man's  Higher  Ego,  so  the  Wisdom-Religion  teaches,  is  a  spir- 
itual entity,  which  has  attained  in  former  world-periods  an  almost 
infinite  amount  of  wisdom  upon  other  worlds  of  the  Kosmos,  or, 
at  least,  under  other  material  conditions.  It  now  descends  to 
this  earth  for  the  double  purpose  of   imparting    its  own  divine 


LOWER    MANAS.  75 

essence  and  nature  to  lower  entities  struggling  in  the  bonds  of 
matter  here,  and  that  itself  may  learn,  if  but  vicariously,  by  incar- 
nating in  these  human-animal  bodies,  additional  wisdom  through 
observing  and  being  associated  under  the  law  of  cause  and  effect 
with  the  play  of  passions  raging  upon  this  molecular  plane  of  the 
Universe.  To  understand,  then,  the  nature  of  the  aspect  with 
which  we  are  dealing— Lower  Manas — it  is  necessary  to  bear  in 
mind  what  man  would  be  without  the  incarnation  of  his  Higher 
Ego,  and  what  the  effect  of  that  incarnation  has  upon  the  animal 
nature.  Without  a  Higher  Ego,  man  would  be  only  a  talking 
animal;  if,  indeed,  capable  of  this.  As  an  animal,  he  is  a  bundle 
of  instincts,  passions,  appetites,  and  desires,  in  no  way  different 
from  the  animals  of  the  kingdom  beneath  him  except  in  the  longer 
period,  and  hence  greater  perfection,  of  the  evolutionary  processes 
he  has  experienced.  The  feeble  intelligence  observed  in  the 
lower  animal  is  carried  to  a  higher  degree  in  him  as  an  animal, 
but  it  is  the  same  intelligence  in  kind.  There  is  no  exhibition  of 
emotion,  instinct,  nor  even  of  reason,  in  man  which  does  not  find 
its  analogue  or  counterpart  in  the  lower  animals.  Certain  of  these, 
as  reason  for  instance,  are  only  faintly  seen;  but  others,  as  in 
many  of  the  instincts  and  senses,  are  even  more  sharply  developed 
than  in  man.  The  Higher  Ego,  then,  descends  to  earth  and 
incarnates  or  associates  itself  with  the  most  perfect  animal  upon 
that  earth,  but  which  was  before  that  incarnation  but  a  perfected 
animal.  By  this  association  or  incarnation  is  bestowed  a  portion 
of  the  essence  of  the  Higher  Ego  upon  or  in  this  animal's  brain. 
This,  which  before  was  reasonless,  blazes  up  under  the  flame  of  the 
presence  of  the  reasoning  Higher  Ego  into  a  false  semblance  of  a 
truly  rational  center  of  consciousness.  The  process  seems  to  be 
almost  entirely  analogous  to  that  which  occurs  when  magnetism 
is  bestowed  upon  non-magnetic  iron  through  contact  with  a  true 
magnet.  The  magnet  has  lost  none  of  its  own  magnetism,  and  yet 
there  appears  to  have  emanated  from  it  a  portion  of  itself.  Sim- 
ilarly, the  Higher  Ego,  without  sacrificing  any  of  its  own  divine 
nature,  bestows  a  portion  of  its  own  reasoning  and  thinking  power 
upon  the  human-animal  with  which  it  is  thus  associated.  There 
springs   up,  then,  because  of  this  emanation,  an   illusory  entity 


76  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

having  the  feeling  of  "I  am  myself,"  entirely  because  of  its  bor- 
rowed glory  from  the  Higher  Ego.  It  is  the  result  of  the  tempor- 
ary fusing  of  this  emanation  of  Manas  with  the  human  elemental 
synthesizing  the  human  form.  Without  this  emanation,  the  ele- 
mental would  have  no  feeling  of  "  I  am  I";  yet,  as  a  center  of 
desires,  instincts,  and  passions,  it  is  so  powerful  as  to  almost  com- 
pletely merge  this  ray  of  Manas  into  its  own  passionate  nature, 
and  to  cause  it  to  lose  all  memory  of,  or  relation  to,  its  divine 
source,  and  to  identify  itself  almost  wholly  with  its  "body,"  and 
the  desires  and  sensuous  delights  apparently  connected  with  that 
body  entirely,  and  which  to  it  seem  the  sum  of  existence.  This 
elemental,  then,  blazes  up  into  a  false  semblance  of  a  thinking, 
reasoning  entity  during  the  time  of  this  association.  But  this  can 
only  be  temporary,  for  the  elemental  itself  has  not  evolved  to  the 
plane  where  this  feeling  is  normal  and  permanent  by  many  eons 
of  years.  Withdraw  the  emanation  or  ray  of  Manas,  and  its  bor- 
rowed glory  soon  fades.  It  splutters  and  flickers  for  a  few  brief 
years  in  Kama  Loka,  and  then  enters  upon  its  cycle  of  latency 
until  again  fanned  into  a  flame  by  the  reincarnating  Higher  Ego 
descending  to  earth  in  another  body,  which  this  same  elemental, 
by  virtue  of  past  karmic  association,  must  again  synthesize — these 
successive  incarnations  constituting  its  manvantarasand  pralayas.* 
This  blazing  up  of  an  illusive  "  I  am  myself,"  which  is  not  the 
human  elemental  alone,  nor  yet  Lower  Manas,  is  the  chief  mys- 
tery of  human  existence.  For  here  the  process  of  incarnation 
takes  place.  Here  is  the  mysterious  weld  joining  body  to  soul. 
For  the  ray  from  Manas — the  emanation  of  its  own  essence — 
which  causes  the  flaming  up  of  the  animal  faculties  in  man,  is  capa- 
ble of  being  withdrawn  into  the  essence  of  the  Higher  Manas;  and, 
indeed,  its  normal  destiny  is  to  be  so  withdrawn  after  each  incar- 
nation, carrying  thence  the  fruitage  or  results  of  its  experiences 
while  in  the  body.  It  has  become — this  ray,  or  Lower  Manas — 
an  almost  independent  entity  during  its  long  association  with  the 
body.      It  has  identified  itself  so  closely  with  the  desires  and  inter- 

*Manvant;iras  and  Pralayas — alternating  periods  of  activity  and  repose.  Such  alternating 
cycles  obtain  in  manifestation  absolutely  without  exxeption  ;  and,  being  universal  (although 
varying  infinitely  in  their  duration),  must  be  regarded  as  an  aspect  of  the  Absoluts,  or  an 
Absolute  law. 


LOWER   MANAS.  77 

ests  of  that  body,  it  has  become  so  colored  by  its  association  with 
and  experiencing  of  the  purely  animal  desires,  so  changed  from 
its  state  of  original  purity,  that  it,  as  we  have  seen,  no  longer  rec- 
ognizes its  source.  And  if  it  identify  itself  too  entirely  with  that 
animal  nature,  then  is  it  incapable  of  being  withdrawn  by  its  par- 
ent, or  of  returning  to  its  source.  In  this  case,  righting  with  the 
force  of  its  lower  will,  it  deliberately  chooses  to  remain  associated 
with  the  animal  entity  synthesizing  its  body;  believing  itself  to  be 
that  entity  through  the  loss  of  its  discriminating  power  because 
of  this  association.  Then,  upon  the  death  of  the  body,  it  becomes 
truly  a  "lost  soul." 

The  complex  nature  of  our  personality  is  thus  readily  perceived. 
It  is  also  perceived  that  that  indefinable  something  which  listens  to 
the  voices  from  both  above  and  below,  and  which  inclines  now  to 
one  and  again  to  the  other,  is  not  the  true  individuality  or  Higher 
Ego,  but  is  its  reflection  in  matter — is  truly  the  Lower  Manas  of  our 
present  study.  This  Lower  Manas,  then,  is  an  emanation  from 
Higher  Manas,*  welded  to  the  animal  elemental  within  us,  by  in- 
carnating in  the  physical  body  of  that  elemental.  It  remains 
entirely  distinct  from  this  elemental,  however.  The  two  are  dis- 
parate, and  the  ray,  or  emanation,  does  not  actually  unite  or 
fuse  into  its  associate,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  desires  of 
the  latter  are  distinctly  recognized  as  coming  from  a  source 
beneath  itself.  There  are  thus  two  entities  in  every  human  breast,, 
which  remain  for  ever  separate,  although  each  reacts  so  intimately 
upon  the  other.  But  the  intimacy  is  brought  about  through  both 
these  occupying  the  same  tenement,  as  it  were — to  use  a  very 
crude  simile.  The  better  illustration  might  be  that  of  the  mul- 
tiple tubes  attached  to  a  phonograph.  The  same  tunes  or  noises 
are  then  heard  by  all  who  apply  any  of  the  different  tubes  to 
their  ears.  Thus,  the  Lower  Manas  receives  over  the  telegraphic 
service  of  the  nervous  system  the  same  sense-impressions  from 
the  material    world  that  are  conveyed  to  the  human-elemental, 

*  Higher  Es;o  and  Higher  Manas  are  synonyms  as  to  the  entity  to  which  they  refer,  which 
is  the  true  soul,  but  represents  two  aspects  of  that  entity.  "Higher  Manas"  accentuates 
the  thought-creating  power  of  the  sou',  or,  rather,  the  fact  that  thought  is  an  essential  attri- 
bute; "  Higher  Ego"  accentuates  the  "  I  am  I,"  or  feeling  of  egoity  which  arises  in  the  soul — 
the   "  Ahamkara"  of  Eastern  metaphysics. 


78  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

which  comes  ofits  being  incarnated  in,  or  magnetically  united  to, 
every  portion  of  that  animal-elemental's  brain  and  body.     But,  to 
make  this  simile  more  complete,  it  must  be  understood  that  the 
lower  elemental  selects  and  plays  the  tunes  upon  the  phonograph, 
at  first  exclusively.     Lower  Manas  is  but  the  interested  spectator 
and  enjoyer  of  the  performance,  which  thus  consists  in  the  play  of 
the  normal  passions  of  the  lower  nature.     But  as  it  grows  fond  of 
these  animal  passions  and  appetites,  rendered  in  siren  music,  as 
it  associates,  and  by  its  awakened  desires    identifies  itself  with 
the  stormy,  passionate  nature  of  the  lower  elemental,  it  soon  takes 
upon  itself  the  office  of  suggesting  new    delights,  as  well  as  of 
reveling  in  the  memory  of  those  which  have  gone,  and  in  an  acute 
anticipation  of  those  which  are  to  come.     By  thus    adding  the 
light  of  reason,  memory,  and  anticipation  to  the  non-intellectualized 
sensuous  delights  of  the  elemental  in  whose  body  it  has  incarnated, 
it  increases  the  intensity  of  these  a  thousand-fold,  and  makes  the 
task  of  subduing  them  a  thousand  times  more  difficult.     And  as 
it  thus  identifies  itself  more  and  more  completely  with  its  lower 
companion  there  grows  up,  as  the  result  of  the  association,  a  strange, 
illusionary,  unreal  entity,  whose  life  is  truly  limited  by  the  horizons 
of  the  cradle  and  the  grave,  and  which  fleeting  entity  is  our  ordi- 
nary selves.      For  it  is  the  production  arising  out  of  the  intellectual- 
ization,   during  the  period  of  the  incarnation  of  Lower  Manas,  of 
the  desires  of  that  animal  entity  with  which  Lower  Manas  itself 
thus  unconsciously  coalesces.     But  the  union  which  is  so  intimate 
during  life  that  it  is  impossible  to  see  where  the  one-  begins  and 
the   other  leaves  off  is,  nevertheless,  destroyed  at  death.     The 
animal-entity  passes  again  into  its  old  condition  of  a  merely  human- 
animal  elemental;   Higher  Manas  is  entirely  withdrawn,  and  the 
intellectualization  of  the  lower  faculties  ceases.     Through  force  of 
habit  and  through  long  association,  the  intellectual  power  of  this 
human-elemental  persists  for  some  time  after  death;  and  this  it 
is  which  constitutes  the  state  or  condition  of  consciousness  called 
Kama  Loka.      But  just  as  a  dog,  or  horse,  no  matter  how  highly 
trained  its  faculties  may  be,  soon  relapses  into  its  former  state  of 
wildness  when  no  longer  subjected  to  human  influence,  so  does 
this  human-elemental  slowly  lose  the  intellectualization  it  has  gained 


LOWER    MANAS.  79 

by  its  life  association  with  Lower  Manas  in  the  body.  It  is  this 
separation  of  Lower  Manas  and  its  elemental  associate  that  is 
meant  when  we  are  told  that  Higher  Manas  "  withdraws  its  ray." 
The  process,  indeed,  is  unavoidable;  for  the  physical  body  of  the 
lower  entity,  being  dead  and  dispersed,  and  that  entity  being 
able  to  maintain  but  a  brief  cycle  of  subjective  mental  activity,  it 
can  no  longer  afford  a  vehicle  for  the  incarnation  of  the  ray  of 
Manas,  and  the  latter  of  necessity  withdraws  to  the  devachanic 
plane  of  consciousness;  just  as  the  elemental  of  necessity  passes 
into  the  condition  of  latency  which  overtakes  all  centers  of  con- 
sciousness when  they  fall  below  the  plane  of  self-consciousness. 
The  time  required  for  this  separation,  or  the  withdrawing  of  the 
ray  of  Manas,  is  subject  to  the  greatest  variation.  For  if  the 
lower,  animal  faculties  have  been  intensely  intellectualized,  if  the 
Lower  Manas  have  leaned  toward  and  lived  in  and  upon  these 
sense-gratifications,  then  it  takes  a  correspondingly  longer  period 
for  the  animal-entity  to  pass  into  latency;  and,  on  the  contrary, 
if  the  personality  has  learned  to  control  its  lower  associate,  if  the 
man  has  during  life  lived  in  his  higher  nature,  and  has  taken  little 
or  no  delight  in  the  sensuous  things  of  life,  then  will  that  elemen- 
tal pass  into  latency  almost  immediately.  The  withdrawal  of  the 
ray  of  Manas  in  such  a  case  is  almost  instantaneous,  and  Devachan 
is  at  once  experienced.  Happy  is  the  man  whose  Kama  Loka 
existence  is  thus  brief! 

It  will  also  be  seen  that,  if  the  Lower  Manas  entirely  identi- 
fies itself  with  this  kamic  elemental,  or  with  Kama  as  it  is  ordina- 
rily stated,  there  is  a  possibility  of  its  being  unable  to  separate 
itself  from  its  association  with  this  elemental  at  death.  Then  a 
dreadful  thing  occurs;  for  if  the  normal  line  of  union  does  not,  or 
indeed  cannot,  yield,  then  must  a  separation  upon  a  higher  plane 
take  place.  In  this  case  the  division  occurs  between  Higher 
Manas  and  its  ray,  and  a  "lost  soul"  is  the  result.  Then  the 
human  elemental,  thus  intellectualized, — thus  shining  by  the  bor- 
rowed glory  of  the  ray  of  Manas  which  it  has  succeeded  in  appro- 
priating,— is  enabled  to  live  a  brief  life-cycle  as  an  entirely  inde- 
pendent entity.  It  is  neither  the  human  elemental  nor  the  ray  of 
Manas,  but  truly  a  compound  of  both  of  these.     Having  been 


8o  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

throughout  its  whole  life,  or,  it  may  be,  throughout  a  series  of 
past  lives,  attracted  entirely  earthward  by  these  sensuous  desires, 
which  it  not  only  failed  to  control  but  which  it  increased  and  strength- 
ened by  its  own  will,  this  "lost  soul"  is  irresistibly  attracted  earthward 
upon  the  death  of  its  body.  It  haunts  mediums,  and  seeH  every 
other  possible  avenue  by  which  it  can  vicariously  experience 
again  the  old  sensuous  delights.  It  may  prolong  this  uncanny 
life  for  a  long  period;  or  its  raging  desires  earthward  may  cause 
its  reincarnation  as  a  human  moral  monster,  such  as  a  Deeming 
or  a  Jessie  Pomeroy.  It  will  thus  go  on  incarnating  until  all  the 
borrowed  light  of  Manas  is  extinguished,  when  it  will  have  to 
pass  into  a  condition  about  which  it  is  useless  to  speculate.  This 
much  is  evident,  that,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  the  association  of 
personality  to  individuality  being  relatively  permanent,  and  the 
same  individual  slowly  and  by  almost  numberless  successive  incar- 
nations elevating  the  personality  to  its  own  divine  plane  of  self- 
consciousness,  the  severing  of  this  association  is  a  most  serious  and 
dreadful  event.  It  is  an  association  begun,  no  doubt,  with  the 
very  beginning  of  humanity  upon  this  globe.  The  "Secret  Doc- 
trine" states  that  each  Higher  Ego  selected  its  "vehicle"  during  the 
middle  of  the  Third  Race  of  this  Round,  more  than  eighteen  mill- 
ions of  years  ago.  Since  that  time  the  association  of  the  Higher 
Ego  and  lower  personality  has  been  uninterrupted,  evidently. 
If,  now,  this  association  is  violently  broken  off,  the  human  ele- 
mental cannot  go  back  to  the  condition  in  which  it  was  so  many 
millions  of  years  since,  but  must  remain  without  a  hope  of  further 
progress  upward,  during  unthinkable  periods  of  time.  For  it 
there  is  no  Higher  Ego;  and  what  will  befall  it  after  entering  into 
the  mysterious  "  eighth  sphere"  of  the  earlier  teachings,  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive.  As  there  can  be  nothing  stationary  in 
all  this  great  Cosmos  of  immutable  activity,  and  as  such  an  entity 
has  thrown  itself  outside  of  all  possibility  of  progressing  harmoni- 
ously under  the  "  breath"  of  that  Absolute  Motion  which  is  the 
cause  of  all  evolution,  the  inference  is  justifiable,  at  least,  that  this 
Absolute  Motion,  which  is  constructive  in  the  normal  course  of 
nature,  becomes  destructive  in  these  instances,  and  that  such  enti- 
tities  will  be  slowly  but  inevitably  forced  downwards  from  plane 


LOWER    MANAS.  8  I 

to  plane  of  the  Cosmos,  reversing  all  the  work  of  their  up-building, 
until  they  at  last  become  practically  annihilated,  or  reduced  to  a 
condition  so  near  annihilation  that  upward  progress  again  becomes 
possible.  And  every  step  in  all  this  must  be  accompanied  by 
more  or  less  acute  suffering.  For  all  suffering  is  due  to  violation 
of,  and  opposition  to,  nature's  laws;  and  this  state  of  inharmony 
and  opposition  to  nature  must  be  the  position  of  such  an  entity 
during  the  entire  cycle  of  its  almost  infinite  descent. 

But  let  us  cease  to  look  upon  this  gloomy  possibility,  and  turn 
instead  to  that  harmonic  progression  of  the  human  soul,  in  which 
Lower  Manas  plays  so  important  a  part.  It  will  be  seen  that  as 
we  are  permanently  associated  with  our  personalities,  as  we  are 
utterly  unable  to  separate  ourselves  from  them  except  by  the 
dreadful  process  of  losing  them,  and  thus  abandoning  them  to  a  fate 
too  dreadful  to  contemplate,  and  that  as  every  personality  repre- 
sents the  sum  total  of  all  preceding  personalities,  how  important  a 
recognition  of  this  relation  of  Higher  Ego  to  lower  personality 
becomes  in  our  study  of  human  destiny!  Each  man  upon  the  earth 
to-day  is  the  result  of  an  almost  infinite  past.  His  character  is 
exactly  what  he  himself  has  created.  If  he  builds  for  himself  a 
debased,  wretched,  vicious  and  wicked  body  in  this  life,  he  must 
return  to  a  body  having  these  same  characteristics  in  the  next, 
because  he  has  never  been  and  can  not  be  separated  from  the  char- 
acter which  he  has  engrafted  upon  his  personality.  The  Lower 
Manas  may,  indeed,  be  withdrawn  into  its  Parent  and  pass  a  cycle 
of  comparative  happiness  and  peace  in  Devachan,  but  upon  it  re- 
emerging  from  that  cycle  the  old  association  must  be  renewed. 
There  is  no  escape.  We  waken  to  life  the  same  elementals  with 
which  we  were  formerly  associated,  and  which,  in  a  condition  of 
latency,  have  been  awaiting  our  return.  We  are  bound  to  them  by 
ties  a  thousand  times  stronger  than  the  supposed  force  of  gravita- 
tion which  holds  the  earth  within  its  orbit  about  the  sun.  So,  upon 
the  other  hand,  every  good,  moral  and  pure  trait  of  character 
which  we  create  in  this  or  any  life  will  follow  us  into  our  next  as 
surely  as  the  earth  follows  the  sun  through  the  heavens.  The 
enemies  we  slay  now  will  not  return  to  fight  us  then,  says  the 
"Voice  of  the  Silence,"  and  a  more  encouraging  and  at  the  same 


-V 


4- 


-H 


82  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

time  a  more  profoundly  philosophical  statement  cannot  be  found 
in  any  Holy  Writ.  The  "I  am  I,"  of  each  personality  is  an 
emanation  from  the  Higher  Ego  of  each.  It  is  a  "  mind-born  son" 
of  the  Higher  Ego,  yet  the  travails  of  its  birth  extend  over  the 
eons  of  years  which  go  to  make  a  manvantara.  This  mystery  of 
mind-birth  is  exemplified  each  year  at  certain  festivals  in  India, 
where,  it  is  stated,  thousands  of  pilgrims  with  unlighted  torches 
crowd  about  the  temple  door,  awaiting  the  appearance  of  the  sacred 
fire.  When  it  appears  those  nearest  light  their  torches  at  its 
flame,  and  these,  in  turn,  light  those  of  others,  and  these,  others, 
until  at  last  every  torch  in  all  the  great  throng  is  blazing  in  a  sea 
of  flame,  Yet  the  original  holy  flame  is  undimmed  and  undimin- 
ished. So  with  the  mind-born.  At  the  birth-throes  of  this  physi- 
cal race,  we  are  told  that  many  "  received  but  a  spark,"  and  of 
these  we  are.  With  what  care,  then,  ought  we  to  guard  this  pre- 
cious spark  which  shall  one  day  expand  into  the  shining  flame  of 
a  perfected  human  soul!  For  "  becoming  one  with  our  Higher 
Egos"  means — can  but  mean — expanding  and  growing  in  spiritu- 
ality until  we  are  one  in  spiritual  nature  as  we  are  now  one  in 
essence.  So  that  the  toils  of  human  life  do  not  mean  the  merg- 
ing of  the  human  soul  into  some  glorious  source  which  shall  end 
its  existence  as  well  as  its  suffering,  but  the  coming  into  spiritual 
manhood  of  a  new  spiritual  being^the  mind-born  pilgrim  of  the 
ages ! 

This  is  the  true  relation  which  the  Lower  Manas,  as  it  seems  to 
the  writer,  bears  to  its  human-animal  body.  Without  pretending 
that  this  explanation  is  faultless,  or  that  it  is  capable  of  explain- 
ing all  the  mysteries  of  life,  it  is  submitted  as  a  working  and 
highly  ethical  hypothesis  for  our  present  environments.  All 
finite  problems  must  of  necessity  impinge  upon  that  Infinite  of 
which  they  constitute  a  portion.  And  that  there  are  mysteries  in 
human  consciousness  which  no  hypothesis  is  capable  of  solving, 
the  writer  freely  admits.  But  it  is  claimed  that  this  view  does 
explain  many  of  the  mysteries  of  human  existence;  that  it  is  in  full 
accord  with  the  doctrines  of  Karma  and  Reincarnation  ;  and  that 
it  furnishes  a  most  philosophical  and  wholesome  basis  for  ethics. 
By  it  is  seen,  if  but  dimly,  why  and  how  that  we  sow  in  one  life 


LOWER    MANAS.  83 

returns  to  us  in  our  next.  The  relation  of  the  individuality  to 
the  personality  is  shown  to  be  not  the  transitory  condition  which 
the  ordinary  view  takes  of  it.  And,  once  the  fact  dawns  upon  the 
human  mind  that  this  association  of  Higher  Manas  with  the  lower 
personality  is  permanent  and  durable,  then  will  the  very  highest 
incentive  towards  the  elevation  and  purification  of  that  lower 
nature  to  which  we  are  thus  united  be  afforded.  If  we  must  live 
life  after  life  upon  this  earth  limited  by  a  certain  and  inevitable 
association  here,  and  if  it  is  in  our  power  to  make  this  association 
either  pleasant  or  unpleasant,  then  is  it  the  height  of  folly  not  to 
take  the  necessary  steps;  to  "take  up  arms  against  a  sea  of 
troubles  and  by  opposing  end  then"  by  subduing  all  the  sources 
of  our  misery  and  unhappiness — our  passionate,  lower  self.  Rec- 
ognizing this  great  fact,  we  shall  engage  in  the  battle  of  life  with 
renewed  hope  ;  we  shall  face  a  future  fraught  with  the  grandest 
prophecies,  for  when  we  shall  have  united  our  lower  nature  to  our 
Higher  Divine  being,  if  we  but  reach  up  to  this  Divinity,  out  of 
that  union  shall  we  then  be  enabled  truly  to  pass  into  that  Para- 
dise where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling  and  the  weary  are 
at  rest. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  REINCARNATING  EGO. 

IffHE  Reincarnating  Ego,  known  also  as  the  Higher  Ego,  Higher 
^-^  Manas,  etc.,  has  to  be  next  studied.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
state  that  almost  insuperable  difficulties  attend  its  attempted 
examination.  Being  at  the  very  base  of  man's  existence,  it  can 
not  be  approached  by  any  ordinary  methods  of  analysis,  either 
deductive  or  inductive.  Its  origin  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  eternal 
duration;  and  its  activities  upon  this  plane  of  conscious  existence 
are  clouded  by  the  material  darkness  which  enwraps  it  as  with  a 
benumbing,  stifling  shroud.  So  paralyzed  are  its  natural  functions, 
so  concealed  its  true  nature,  that  it  is  small  wonder  that  almost  a 
third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  do  not  suspect  its  existence; 
while  of  the  remainder,  although  recognizing  it  philosophically, 
few  have  but  the  faintest  conception  of  its  real  nature  or  attributes. 
That  there  is  an  inner,  or  buried,  ego  very  greatly  superior  to 
that  of  our  ordinary,  waking,  conscious  life  is  easily  susceptible 
of  scientific  proofs.  Chief  among  these  stand  the  phenomena  of 
hypnotism,  trance,  prophecy,  clairvoyance,  and  allied  states.  As 
has  been  pointed  out  elsewhere,*  the  effect  of  hypnotism,  most 
disastrous  to  the  waking  will,  is  to  apparently  remove  layer  after 
layer  of  these  fleshly  garments  which  hinder  the  free  functioning 
of  the  soul,  so  that  a  very  ordinary  or  even  stupid  person  becomes 
profound,  philosophical,  possessed  of  deeper,  and  even  of  techni- 
cal, knowledge  of  which  he  has  no  waking  consciousness. 
Clairvoyance,  prophetic  dreams,  somnambulic  trance,  together 
with  thousands  of  phenomena  whose  profound  bearing  upon  the 
existence  and  native  functions  of  the  soul  have  hitherto  been 
overlooked  by  psychologists,  afford  ample  evidence  not  only  of 
the  presence  of  a  soul,  but  of  the  farther  and  most  important  fact 
that  instead  of  aiding,  widening  or  of  almost  creating  it,  which  is 
the  popular  conception,  the  body  limits  the  normal  consciousness 

*See  the  Author's  work  on  Reincarnation,  p.  145,  et  seq. 


THE   REINCARNATING    EGO.  85 

of  this  soul  to  a  degree  little  suspected  by  even  philosophic  minds. 

While  the  Higher  Ego  has  its  base  in  spirit,  or  consciousness, 
it  itself  appears  to  represent  and  to  be  the  very  essence  of  that 
condition  of  consciousness  known  as  Thought.  What  thought  is 
in  its  ultimate  essence  can  not  be  self-cognized.  Therefore,  it 
must  ever  remain  a  mystery  to  self-conscious  beings,  until  they 
shall  have  passed  above  and  beyond  it — a  state  which  quite  tran- 
scends our  present  power  of  conception.  Viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  phenomenal  universe,  it  appears  to  be  the  active 
agent  in  creation,  for  there  is  no  fact  nor  phenomenon  which  is 
not  plainly  its  result.  From  world  to  atom,  from  sun  to  man, 
there  is  absolutely  nothing  which  is  not  due  to  its  creative  activity. 
Yet  Thought  requires  a  Thinker;  it  is  not  self-born.  Unlike 
consciousness,  its  very  presence  is  the  eternal  witness  of  differen- 
tiation; it  first  proclaims  the  dawn  of  another  period  of  manifesta- 
tion; it  testifies  to  the  outward  flowing  of  the  Great  Breath  of  the 
Ocean  of  Being.  Before  its  appearing  even  "Universal  Mind 
was  not,  for  there  were  no  Ah-hi  to  contain  it,"  declares  the  sub- 
lime stanzas  of  Dzyan.  It  is  the  universal  creator;  yet  the  con- 
ception of  creation  throughout  the  Western  world  must  be  care- 
fully eliminated  before  one  begins  an  analysis  of  its  phenomena. 

For  Thought  creates  by  entering  into  and  becoming  its  creations. 
There  is  no  use  for  extraneous  matter  in  the  sense  of  a  potter 
using  clay,  of  which  he  fashions  a  vessel  entirely  distinct  and  apart  4 
from  himself,  which  represents  the  Western  idea  of  the  creative 
act — except  that  this  further  supposes  the  Creator  of  the  Universe 
to  first  create  the  clay,  of  which  he  fashions  his  creations,  out  of 
absolutely  nothing.  The  Occult  teaching  is,  as  said,  that  Thought  4= 
becomes  its  own  creations.  Thus,  let  suppose  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  one  of  the  Ah-hi  to  create  a  solar  system,  such  as  ours.  His 
thought  would  infuse  itself  into  and  energise  a  vast  "  Body"  of 
"primordial"  matter — the  latter  itself  already  the  seat  of  innumer- 
able latent,  or  subjectively  conscious,  entities.  With  every 
atom  of  all  this  mass  of  matter  the  Ah-hi  consciously  identifies  him- 
self, just  as  man  identifies  himself  with  the  matter  of  his  body,  and 
every  atom  thrills  with  the  thought  of  the  worlds  to  be.  In  this 
manner  are  impressed  those  primal  laws,  and  that  apparently  blind 


86  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

purpose  in   nature  which  cause  it  to  struggle  upward  along  the 
hard  and  devious  paths  of  evolution. 

Let  us  suppose  primordial  matter  to  differentiate  into  "  fire- 
mist,"  this  into  ethereal,  this  into  astral,  and  this  into  molecular 
matter,  and  a  nebula  to  be  thus  born  in  apparently  empty  space. 
All  the  future  course  of  the  newly  created  system  is  graven  in  the 
records  of  the  physical  heavens,  and  he  who  runs  may  read.  The 
mechanical  agent  has  been  change  in  vibration,  modifications  in 
the  ceaseless  motion  of  the  "Great  Breath,"  as  the  Hindus  so 
poetically  term  the  action  of  "That  which  Is,  Was,  and  Will  Be"; 
but  the  directing,  guiding  force  has  been  Thought,  using  as  its 
agent  "  Fohat,"  or  Cosmic  will. 

This  is  the  macrocosmic  process,  and  as  its  details  are  studied 
it  is  seen  why  man  is  said  to  be  the  microcosm,  or  little  copy,  of 
that  macrocosm.  There  is  within  him  a  creative  center  of  con- 
sciousness, associated,  as  was  seen  in  our  study  of  the  body,  with 
almost  innumerable  hierarchies  of  conscious,  but — note  well — not 
self-conscious  entities.  To  become  self-conscious  is  to  use  crea- 
tive force;  to  guide  differentiation;  to  furnish  a  center  wheiein  the 
creative  ray  of  Mahat  may  be  focused  upon  a  lower  plane.  Such 
a  Mahatic  center  our  Higher  Egos  are.  As  unity  in  essence  per- 
vades the  entire  manifested  universe,  so  it  becomes  possible,  and 
indeed  the  law,  that  Thought  thus  associating  itself  with  entities 
below  the  Manasic  plane  bestows  upon  them  a  portion  of  its  own 
power.  In  other  words,  it  "emanates"  itself,  and  its  emanations 
become,  in  turn,  "like  unto  their  Father."  This  would  not  be  pos- 
sible if  all  things  were  not  one  in  essence,  and  it  shows  that  in 
every  atom  of  the  Universe  there  are  all  the  potentialities  of  the 
highest  god.  That  which  has  the  potentialities  of  flame  can  be 
quickened  into  flame  by  the  application  of  flame,  which  seems  to 
be  the  compassionate  law  capable  of  reuniting  and  rebinding  all 
the  wayfarers  and  pilgrims,  lost  in  the  illusive  cycle  of  differenti- 
ation, to  their  one  source  and  origin,  the  Absolute.  When  high, 
creative  Dhyan  Choans  "thought"  this  world  into  mayavic*  exist- 
ence, the  idea  of  man  was  impressed  upon  its  every  atom,  and 

*Mava — illusion,  or  non-reality,  in  the  sense  of  impermanency,  and  of  concealing  the  reality 
hidden  behind  it. 


THE   REINCARNATING    EGO.  87 

this  is,  as  has  been  shown,  the  true  reason  for  all  nature  pointing 
towards  and  culminating  in  man.  This  primal  impress  is  also  the 
cau.ce  for  nature's  blind  groping  after  manhood — for  the  creation 
of  those  "  men-monsters,  terrible  and  bad,"*  which  were  produced 
by  entities  without  the  "fire"  of  Mind,  yet  still  unconsciously 
responding  to  the  primal  impulse  which  demanded  "  men"  for  this 
earth. 

Such  mindless  creators  could  not  bestow  that  which  they  did 
not  have.  They  could  give  to  man  passion,  emotion,  the  desire 
for  sentient  existence — in  short,  could  produce  an  animal;  but  a 
man  was  an  unrealizable  dream  to  them.  The  oneness  in  essence 
of  all  that  is,  and,  because  of  this  oneness,  the  capability  of 
bestowing  their  own  nature  upon  other  differentiations  in  the  one 
essence,  upon  the  one  hand,  and  of  receiving  this  impress,  upon 
the  other,  is  the  key  which  will  unlock  the  source  of  whatever  of 
Manas  or  Thought  man  has  within  his  being.  All  things  are  born 
by  emanation,  except  the  "  Primordial  Seven,"f  who  are  said,  to 
"  radiate"  directly  from  the  Absolute.  The  production  of  the 
humble  unicellular  animal  or  vegetable  by  fission  is  as  truly  an 
emanation  of  its  own  essence,  upon  its  lowly  plane,  as  is  the  crea- 
tion of  a  thinking  entity  by  emitting  the  spark  of  manasic  fire, 
upon  a  higher.  The  parent  which  has  produced  another  being  by 
dividing  itself  is  as  whole  and  perfect  as  before,  and  a  thousand 
brains  can  be  set  successively  throbbing  with  thought  by  our 
Higher  Egos  without  lessening  their  divinity  or  making  them  one 
whit  less  perfect  than  before. 

This  is  one  of  the  functions  of  the  Higher  Ego — to  bestow  its 
own  power  of  thought  upon  those  animal  elementals  whose  outer 
vestments  are  our  bodies,  and  thus  to  render  them  capable  of  start- 
ing on  the  long  and  perilous  journey  towards  godhood.  For  in 
an  eternity  of  endless  progression,  when  man  shall  be  done 
with  matter,  other  entities  must  step  into  the  place  vacated  by 
him,  and,  when  their  turn  comes,  scale  the  heights  and  sound  the 
depths  of  self-conscious  existence.  By  all  the  laws  of  correspond- 
ence and  analogy,  these  ought  to  be  those  elemental  beings  most 

*Stanzas  of  Dzyan,  Secret  Doctrine. 
tSecret  Doctrine. 


88  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

closely  associated  with  man,  which  are  not  the  animals,  as  might 
be  supposed,  but  those  human  elementals  which  synthesize  our 
human-animal  bodies. 

And  the  question  is  an  open  one,  at  least,  whether  that  "  Ray" 
of  Manas  which  incarnates  in  each  human  body  is  not  a  true 
division — a  begetting  upon  the  plane  of  mentality  of  another 
"  mind  born  Son."  If  it  be  but  a  ray, — a  vague  and  unsatisfactory 
explanation  of  its  relation  to  the  Higher  Ego, — then  must  the 
human  elemental  become  the  mind-born  son. 

The  real  entity  at  the  base  of  man's  conscious  existence  is 
declared  to  be  the  Higher  Ego.  Its  horizons  of  life  are  bounded 
by  the  vast  eons  comprised  in  a  Maha-manvantara,  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  eternal  existence  if  it  assimilate  itself  to  Buddhi,  or  the 
Substance-Aspect  of  the  Absolute.  Standing  behind  the  veil  of 
mutable  matter  in  which  its  various  successive  personalities  are 
clothed,  itself  robed  in  imperishable  cosmic  substance,  it  knows  not 
birth  nor  death;  the  dread  gulfs  which  mark  the  boundaries  of  sen- 
suous  life  for  it  do  not  exist.  Its  home  is  on  the  plane  of  thought ; 
and  from  this  divine  view-point  it  approaches  sensuous  life  only 
by  the  avenues  its  emanations  cause  to  arise  in  the  human- 
animal  brain.  It  bestows  upon  the  brain  of  the  animal  man  in 
whom  it  incarnates  its  own  feeling  of  "I-am-ness."  This  borrowed 
feeling  of  egohood  is  the  "I  am  I"  of  our  ordinary  waking  life. 
Its  horizon  of  existence  is  bounded  by  the  farther  shores  of  Deva- 
chan,  as  the  life  of  the  human  elemental  is  limited  by  those  of 
Kama  Loka.  This  "  I  am  I,"  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  compound  of 
the  ray  of  Manas  colored  by  the  sensuous  experiences  of  Kama.* 
And  yet,  although  its  life  seems  thus  limited,  it  is  only  self- 
consciously so  limited.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  same  person- 
ality attends  the  Higher  Ego  throughout  all  its  incarnations.  It 
is  differently  colored  by  different  lines  of  physical  heredity;  but  the 
inner  entities  of  which  the  personality  is  composed  must  be  the 
same,  to  a  very  large  degree,  if  not  wholly,  else  karmaf  would  not 
be  satisfied.  Certainly,  the  human  elemental  is  the  same  through- 
out all  normal  incarnations.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  in 
incarnating,  it  is  entities  with  which  the  soul  or  ego  is  associated, 

*Desire.     t  Karma — the  law  of  cause  and  effect. 


THE   REINCARNATING   EGO.  89 

not  abstractions.  And  these  entities  are  its  microcosm;  constitute 
the  "little  world"  upon  which  it  is  trying  its  'prentice  hand  at  gov- 
erning before  being  assigned  larger  opportunities.  They  are 
its  microcosm,  its  little  cosmos;  and  it  is  as  impossible  for  them  to 
become  dissociated  from  the  soul  to  which  they  are  karmically 
bound  as  it  is  for  the  granite  mountains  of  this  earth  to  suddenly 
rise  in  the  air  and  float  away  to  Venus;  for  so  close  is  the  tie 
which  binds  man  to  his  microcosm.  The  rocks  and  mountains, 
the  seas  and  oceans  of  this  earth,  are  indissolubly  connected  with 
its  Regent;  and,  although  these  are  ensouled  by  an  almost  infinite 
number  of  lower  entities,  they  are  the  vestments  of  his  personality 
while  he  is  on  the  earth,  and  cannot  be  discarded  even  upon  the 
re-embodiment  of  the  earth  as  a  new  planet,  for  we  are  distinctly 
told  that  the  "vital  principles"  of  a  planet  merely  transfer  them- 
selves to  a  new  point  in  space  upon  the  death  of  an  old,  worn-out 
world.  And  what  are  vital  Principles  but  the  whole  hosts  of  con- 
scious or  subconscious  entities  who  have  been  clothed  with  the 
matter  of  the  old  world  ?  Let  us  avoid  loose  reasoning,  and  always 
remember  that  we  are  dealing  with  consciousness,  and  that  in 
all  the  finite  Universe  there  is  not  a  particle  of  matter  which  is  not 
the  clothing  and  expression  of  a  conscious  entity;  nor  no  thought 
which  is  not  the  direct  action  of  a  thinking  entity.  So  shall  we 
avoid  vagueness  and  generalities.  It  is  far  better  to  confess 
when  we  reach  the  point  where  our  knowledge  fails  than  to  attempt 
to  conceal  our  ignorance  behind  an  array  of  meaningless  generali- 
ties. So  that  the  reincarnation  of  a  world  means  the  reincarnat- 
ing of  the  entities  which  made  up  that  world,  and  the  reincarnat- 
ing of  the  Higher  Ego  means  the  re-association  of  that  ego  with 
its  old  microcosm  of  entities.  All  that  is  new  is  the  very  outer- 
most and  coarsest  molecules,  made  up  of  lives  so  near  the  mate- 
rial aspect  of  the  Absolute  that  they  can  be  used  by  almost  any 
entity  as  its  clothing,  whether  that  entity  be  an  animal,  a  vegeta- 
ble, or  even  those  fused  into  a  rock. 

But  all  this  has  been  shown  in  former  chapters.  It  is  restated 
here  to  emphasize  the  relation  which  the  Higher  Ego  bears  to  its 
humble  body,  and  the  importance  of  a  connection  which  is  thus 
karmic  and  almost  interminable,  and  the  character  of  which  can 


9o 


SEPTENARY    MAN. 


only  be  changed  by  thought.  The  importance  of  this  relation 
can  not  be  overestimated.  We  can  not  separate  ourselves  from 
our  bodies — or,  rather,  from  the  entities  which  compose  those 
bodies — until  we  have  so  changed  them  by  our  thought  that  they 
become  capable  of  taking  up  for  themselves  the  struggle  of  self- 
conscious  existence.  Their  consciousness  is  daily  and  hourly 
being  molded  by  our  thought,  as  Manas  toils  at  his  kingly,  crea- 
tive function  among  these  the  lower  lives  of  our  bodies.  For 
Thought  means  creation, — is  creation, — and  to  be  a  thinker  is  to 
be  a  creator.  Above  the  planes  of  Thought  we  can  faintly  con- 
ceive of  a  sea  of  absolute  consciousness,  rest,  and  bliss;  but  when 
we  descend  below  this  there  is  the  clamor  and  toil  of  ceaseless 
activity,  for  all  the  immeasurable  universes  are  in  the  throes  of 
its  active,  creative  effort.  This  activity  proceeds  in  cycles,  which 
afford  to  entities  a  temporary  respite;  but  it  is  only  temporary — 
a  brief  period  of  comparative  inactivity  and  rest  before  they  again 
respond  to  the  blows  of  the  Hammer  of  Thor  in  the  resounding 
workshops  of  creation. 

We  must  recognize  the  Higher  Ego  as  a  kingly  Creator,  and 
these  entities  clothed  in  the  material  molecules  of  this  plane  as 
the  plastic  matter  which,  heated  to  redness  by  the  flame  of  his 
presence,  he  is  slowly  forging  into  diviner  shapes,  if  we  would  ever 
gain  an  insight  into  the  seemingly  mysterious  relation  between 
Soul  and  Body — between  Higher  Ego  and  lower  Personality. 
Thought,  under  one  of  its  seven  modes  of  activity,  is  constantly 
active  within  us;  not  a  moment  passes  that  has  not  to  some 
degree  changed  our  relation  to. the  entire  Universe.  The  reaction 
of  that  Universe  because  of  this  change  is  one  of  the  seven 
phases  of  karma.*  The  voice  of  conscience  is  that  of  our  Higher 
Ego  upon  its  own  divine  plane;  for  action  and  reaction  are  appar- 
ent, and  it  creates  with. knowledge  of  and  in  harmony  with  Uni- 
versal Law.  But  upon  the  plane  of  Lower  Manas  it  is  not  yet 
fully  conscious,  because  the  latter  is  still  in  the  coils  of  Kama.f 
Therefore,  it  can  only  lift  its  voice  in  solemn  warning  when  the 
lower  self,  yielding  to  sensuous  delights,  sows  the  wind  which 
shall,  cause  the  reaping   of  the  whirlwind.      Happy,  indeed,  is  the 

*Karma — the  law  of  cause  and  effect,     t Kama— desire. 


THE   REINCARNATING    EGO.  9 1 

man  in  whom  this  kingly  creation  of  thought  is  under  the  direct 
guidance  of  this  Divine  Monitor! 

For  the  "  I  am  I"  of  the  ordinary  man  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
product  of  the  illusion  of  "  I-am-ness"  set  up  in  the  human  brain 
as  a  consequence  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Higher  Ego.  It  has 
no  real  existence,  and  fades  forever,  even  as  a  seeming  entity, 
when  the  last  devachanic  dream  ceases  and  the  Higher  Ego  again 
takes  up  its  active  creative  efforts.  It  is  well  that  this  is  so.  No 
enlightened  man  would  wish  to  carry  into  eternity  the  "I"  of  his 
earthly  appetites,  passions,  vanities,  ignorance,  and  selfishness. 
Even  the  Christian  recognizes  this,  and  believes  that  in  some 
mysterious  manner  he  will  be  "changed  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,"  although  all  nature  is  proclaiming  by  every  act  that  su:h 
is  not,  never  was,  and  never  will  be,  her  methods. 

Yet  this  reflection  of  Manas,  this  emanation  from  the  Divine 
Thinker,  is  of  the  same  essence  as  its  parent,  and  affords  a  stair- 
way by  which  the  latter  may  descend,  and,  still  more  important 
to  us,  a  means  whereby  we  may  ascend  to  our  divine  parent. 
For  its  Ray,  the  Lower  Manas,  is,  indeed,  ourselves — our  very 
selves,  in  truth, — and  if  kept  pure  andundefiled  may  be  indrawn 
into  the  Higher  Ego  to  share,  and  be,  its  immortality. 

But  such  is  not  its  ordinary  fate.  The  thought  of  Manas  has 
as  yet  scarcely  begun  to  impress  itself  upon  and  to  mold  its  asso- 
ciated microcosm  into  its  own  divine  designs.  The  effect  of  its 
incarnations  thus  far  have  been,  in  the  vast  majority  of  men,  to 
fan  into  a  fiercer  flame  the  passionate  and  reasonless  sense- 
consciousness  by  rationalizing  these  lower  passions  which  before 
were  reasonless.  Its  divine  labor,  to  spiritualize  by  infusing  its 
own  divine  essence  into  every  atom  of  the  body,  lies  yet  very 
largely  in  the  future — a  task  to  try  even  its  kingly  powers.  And 
this  spiritualization — strangest  mystery  of  all! — we  its  sons  have 
the  power  to  hasten,  retard,  or  even  prevent  entirely.  By  dwelling 
in  and  living  for  the  things  of  the  flesh  alone,  we  can  so  change 
and  color  the  pure  emanation  of  Manas,  which  constitutes  our  real 
selves,  that  it  becomes  wholly  of  the  earth,  earthy.  For  Manas 
is  pure  thought ;  it  knows  naught  of  emotion  or  sense-consciousness 
except  as  these  afford  it  food  for  thought.      And  its  thought  must 


92  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

be  pure.  No  flash  of  impurity,  even,  can  be  thrown  across  its 
divine  nature.  For  it,  all  the  delights  of  impure  sensuous  exist- 
ence are  meaningless;  it  views  them  as  one  might  the  movements 
of  a  panorama  of  which  he  positively  knew  nothing.  It  knows, 
indeed,  that  they  are  sinful  and  wicked;  and,  if  the  lower  self  is 
not  too  debased,  raises  its  warning  voice,  but  no  record  of  the  act 
itself  can  be  imprinted  upon  its  own  pure  nature.  Therefore,  the 
Higher  Ego  is  not — can  not  be — soiled  with  the  crimes  or  vices 
of  its  lower  reflection,  although  it  may  and  does  suffer  because  of 
these.  But  its  suffering  is  not  personal.  It  is  the  woe  for  others' 
sake,  the  voicing  of  that  old  plaint,  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, 
how  often  would  I  have  gathered  ye  under  my  wings  even  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens,  and  ye  would  not!" 

Therefore,  the  effort  is  mutual  on  the  part  of  the  lower  and 
Higher  Selves,  when  the  former  is  not  too  blinded  by  sensuous 
delight  to  attempt  union  with  its  Parent.  For  if  the  mission  of 
the  Lower  Ego  is  to  ascend,  that  of  the  Higher  is  equally  to 
descend.  It  has  to  conquer  self-consciousness  upon  this  stormy 
plane  of  molecular  sense  life,  and  it  can  only  do  this  by  raising  its 
passion-tossed  entities  to  a  state  where  they  respond  instantly  to 
its  creative  touch.  It  can  never  know  this  earth  until  it  has  con- 
quered it,  and  so  it  seems  that,  although  the  trend  of  material  evo- 
lution appears  to  be,  and  is,  so  decidedly  upward,  this  is  but 
half  the  process,  and  is  met  by  an  equally  imperious  descent  of 
the  spiritual  or  Thought  side  of  nature.  Our  Higher  Egos  are 
ascending  out  of  matter  only  in  the  sense  of  overcoming  it;  in  the 
struggle  they  are  ever  grasping  firmer  and  closer  holds  upon  it. 
Yet  when  Thought  really  descends  into  matter  it  dissipates  its 
illusions,  so  that  in  conquering  the  world  it  shall  dissipate  its  illu- 
sions and  change  even  its  very  forms. 

Man  is  thus  the  microcosm  of  the  Macrocosm,  and  he  repeats  the 
history  of  his  association  with  its  matter  with  every  new  life.  As 
the  Higher  Ego  returns  to  incarnation,  it  molds  almost  instantly 
the  matter  of  the  Astral  Round,  which  it  conquered  and  made 
plastic  to  its  thought  during  that  world  period,  into  the  astral 
shape  of  its  future  form.  This  constitutes  the  Linga  Sharira, 
which    has   been  already  fully  described.     Into  it,   as  we  have 


THE   REINCARNATING    EGO.  93 

seen,  the  molecules  of  this  too  solid  flesh  flow,  making  man's  body- 
thus  but  a  kind  of  petrified  or  carnified  astral  form.  But  the 
Thought  of  the  Higher  Ego  can  and  does,  in  the  case  of  the 
trained  Adept  consciously,  and  of  the  ordinary  individual  uncon- 
sciously, produce  other  astral  forms.  These  have  well  been 
called  Thought  forms,  for  there  is  no  form  which  is  not  a  Thought 
form.  Yet  in  their  conscious  production  we  but  see  another  evi- 
dence of  the  kingly  nature  of  the  Higher  Ego,  and  of  the  real  hold, 
through  it,  the  soul  has  upon  Divinity.  For  however  feebly  the 
voice  of  the  Higher  Ego  may  be  heard,  however  vague  and  unreal 
its  presence  may  seem,  yet  it  is  present  in  every  thinking  man, 
constituting  him  one  with  that  mighty  power  which  brought  stars 
and  worlds  into  being.  His  body  is  not  himself;  its  desires,  pas- 
sions, emotions,  caprices,  vanities,  and  all  the  puerile  things  which 
now  occupy  his  divine  but  degraded  thinking  Principle,  are  not 
his  desires,  but  those  of  beings  far,  far  below  him,  and  with  which 
he  is  associated  to  conquer  and  lead  to  a  higher  existence.  His 
thoughts  are  alone  himself,  and  he  is  master  of  their  divinely  crea- 
tive potencies,  if  he  but  wills  it.  There  is  no  power  in  nature 
which  is  not  his  rightful  heritage,  if  he  but  claims  it.  And  the 
one  requisite  is  to  recognize  himself  as  a  thinking  soul,  hampered, 
restricted,  and  manacled  by  a  body,  instead  of  imagining  himself 
a  body  full  of  false  desires,  false  needs,  and  false  ideals,  which  the 
equally  false  theologies  of  the  West  have  taught  him  to  regard  as 
in  some  vague  and  unreal  way  to  be  possessed  of  a  soul.  And 
whatever  his  soul  may  be  on  planes  above  Thought,  with  such  he 
has  small  present  concern.  In  the  Cycle  of  Necessity,  in  the 
onward  rush  of  manifested  life  in  which  he  now  finds  himself,  he 
is  a  center  of  pure  creative  thought,  taking  an  active,  responsible 
part  in  fashioning  not  only  the  microcosm  with  which  he  is  more 
closely  associated,  but  also  in  molding  the  world  which  is  his  pres- 
ent home,  and  changing  to  some  degree  at  least  the  very  Uni- 
verse in  which  he  has  his  being.  Recognizing  this,  he  will  guard 
his  thoughts  as  a  miser  his  gold,  and  will  never  permit  himself  to 
think  a  vile  or  wicked  one  after  he  realizes  that  thus  he  has  given 
birth  to  a  vile  and  wicked  form.  For  the  fact  that  all  are  of  one 
essence  makes  it  possible,  and  indeed  almost  necessary,  that   his 


94  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

thought  should  affect  others.  Under  the  illusion  that  thought  is 
harmless,  the  thinker  who  revels  in  thoughts  of  lust,  hatred,  or 
crime,  which  some  weaker  man  takes  up  and  carries  into  action 
without  knowing  why,  has  the  greater  share  in  the  real  responsi- 
bility. For  each  thought,  by  the  mysterious  action  of  karma, 
molds  his  being,  and  carries  with  it  the  certainty  of  its  own 
punishment. 

We  are  thus  gods,  and  the  sons  of  God.  Let  us,  therefore,  claim 
our  birthright  and  exercise  our  kingly  function  in  a  kingly  man- 
ner. Let  us  endeavor  to  feel  ourselves  one  with  that  throbbing 
heart  of  nature  which  is  ever  pressing  onward  to  higher  and  nobler 
ends.  Let  us  no  longer  exercise  the  divine  power  of  thought  upon 
the  clamor  of  the  senses;  but,  stilling  these,  hearken  to  the  voice 
of  our  inner  god;  creep  closer  to  the  heart  of  nature,  and  reveren- 
tially listen.  So  may  we  find  that  there  is  meaning  in  the  appar- 
ent chaos  of  existence;  so  may  the  breath  from  the  wings  of  the 
Swan  of  Life  fan  our  cheeks;  so  may  we  re-enter  the  Paradise  we 
have  lost,  for  we  will  have  recreated  it  by  the  irresistible  power 
of  purified,  holy,  compassionate  Thought,  and  will  have  reunited 
ourselves  to  and  rebecome  our  own  Higher  Selves! 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  HIGHER  TRIAD— ATMA,  BUDDHI,  MANAS. 

^ffHE  stud}'  of  the  Higher  Triad,  including  as  it  necessarily  does 
^sb  that  of  the  Higher  Self,  is  also  attended  with  much  difficulty. 
For  the  higher,  diviner  portion  of  man's  being,  the  true  soul,  can, 
as  we  have  seen,  hardly  be  the  subject  of  intellectual  analysis  by 
its  lower  reflection  incarnated  in  these  animal  bodies.  The  Higher 
Ego,  also,  constitutes  a  portion  of  the  Triad,  and  must  receive 
some  attention  in  this  relation,  so  that  metaphysical  difficulties 
beset  us  on  every  hand. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  preface  the  subject  proper  by  defin- 
ing these  differing  aspects  of  the  One  Life  as  it  appears  differenti- 
ated by  the  differing  vehicles  of  human  consciousness.  The  "I 
am  myself"  of  each  human  being  is  a  Ray,  or  emanation,  from 
Manas,  or  is  that  lower  thinking  Principle  which  is  caused  to 
appear  in  the  human  brain  by  the  incarnation  of  the  Higher  Ego. 
The  Higher  Ego  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  true  man.  It  represents 
a  center  of  creative  thought  in  the  Cosmos,  emanating  from 
Mahat,  or  the  Third  Cosmic  Principle  in  downward  differentiation. 
Viewed  as  a  distinct  center  of  pure  Thought,  it  is  called  the 
Higher  Manas,  the  Reincarnating  Ego,  etc.  But  it  has  the  poten- 
tiality of  union  with  Buddhic  consciousness,  and  if  so  conjoined  is 
then  known  as  the  Spiritual  Ego.*  The  Higher  Self  is  Atman, 
and  is  above  all  differentiation,  and  hence  is  the  Higher  Self  not 
only  of  man,  but  of  the  Universe  and  every  entity  within  it. 
Atman  is  defined  as  "the  emanating  spark  from  the  Uncreated 
Ray."f  It  belong  to  the  Unknowable,  and  all  speculation  upon  it 
is  perhaps  unprofitable.  Going  as  deeply  as  we  may ,  however,  into 
metaphysical  analysis,  it  seems  possible  to  dimly  conceive  of  con- 
sciousness which  is  pure  and  undifferentiated;  which  contains  in 
itself  the  Knower,  the  thing  known,  and  the  act  of  knowing.     All 

*Key  to  Theosophy.     tSecret  Doctrine. 


96  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

attempts  to  define  it  are  futile ;  we  but  dwarf  it  by  our  conceptions. 
Like  the  Absolute,  the  Higher  Self  can  only  be  defined  by  what 
it  is  not;  and  yet,  as  it  must  be  the  All,  even  this  method  fails  us. 
This  ocean  of  undifferentiated  consciousness,  before  it  can   even 
approach  the  differentiated  states  of  lower  realms,  has  of  necessity 
to  have  a  vehicle;  and  this  vehicle   is  the  first  metaphysical  con- 
ception of  differentiation  within  Absolute  Being.     At  the  door  of 
life  stand  the  dual  attributes  of  the  Absolute,  Spirit  and  Matter, 
or  Consciousness  and  its  metaphysically  material  vehicle  known 
as  Buddhi,  the  Soul  of  the  Cosmos  as  of  man.     The  conscious- 
ness of  Atman,  thus  ensouled  by  Buddhi,  is  universal,  undifferen- 
tiated, divine,   containing  in   itself  all  potentialities  of  all  planes 
below.     It  is  eternal  and  unchangeable;  and,  if  not  the  Infinite  or 
Absolute,  is  at  least  the  appearance  which  the  Absolute  presents 
when  viewed  from  the  finite  standpoint  of  differentiated  conscious- 
ness.      Therefore,  being  in  its  nature  and  essence  eternal  and 
unchangeable,  if  the  Higher  Ego,  even,  is  to  win  its  immortality, 
it  has  to  do  this  by  assimilating  itself  to  the  nature  of  this  divine 
Atma-Buddhic  consciousness.     This  consciousness  of  the  Higher 
Self  is  One  Great  Whole;    it  can  not  be  thought  of  as  differenti- 
ated.     It  appears  to  be  differentiated  upon  lower  planes,  as  the 
light  of  a  flame,  seen  through  differently  colored  glasses,  may 
appear  red,  blue,  green,  or  an  almost  infinite  variety  of  differing 
shades  of  color.     As  in  the  case  of  Atman,  we  identify  these  with 
the  light  itself,  forgetting  that  behind  them  all  shines  the  one 
white  flame.     Similarly,  Atman  is  the  source  of  consciousness, 
and,  as  we  have  said,  the  Higher  Self,  not  only  of  man  but  of  the 
Universe.      How,  then,  is  this,  which  appears  to  be  an  aspect  of 
the  Absolute,  related  to  lower  things?     Atman  is  the  base  and 
origin  of  all  the  human  principles;  is  also  the  base  and  origin 
of   all  that   is  within  the  great  manifested  universe,  the  source 
alike  of  the  atom  and  of  the  human  soul,  of  the  daisy  and  of  the 
sun.      Herein  lies  the  greatest  mystery  concerned  with  manifest- 
ation, over  which  the  very  highest  intellects  have  pondered  in 
vain,  and  which  seems  utterly  incapable  of  explanation.     In  order 
to  understand  it,  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  finite  to  be  able 
to  comprehend  the  Infinite.     But,  in  some  manner,  this  which 


THE   HIGHER   TRIAD — ATMA,   BUDDHI,   MANAS.  97 

is  Infinite  in  its  totality  passes  into  infinite  variation.  The  only 
possible  method,  as  has  been  stated,  by  which  Infinity  can  mani- 
fest finitely  would  seem  to  be  for  it  to  take  on  infinite  variation. 
This  variation  is  said  by  the  deepest  thinkers  to  be  an  illusion. 
It  may  be.  When  analyzed,  almost  everything  concerned  with 
human  consciousness  is  found  to  be  illusive.  Yet  this  illusion  is 
a  very,  very  real  one  to  man.  and  he  has  to  patiently  and  care- 
fully study  it  if  he  would  thread  his  way  through  the  labyrinths 
of  this  ocean  of  manifested  life. 

Atman,  then,  is  the  basis  of  all  manifestation.  It  is  that  which 
sustains  and  upholds  manifestation — that  which  renders  it  possible ; 
and  still,  built  not  only  upon,  but  out  of  this  stable  something  is 
found  the  unstable.  Yet,  as  there  can  be  in  the  Cosmos  but  one 
Source  of  things,  whether  finite  or  Infinite,  then  out  of  this  Infi- 
nite must  come  the  finite.  Therefore,  Atman  is  the  basis  of  all 
that  is,  and  is  the  cause  of  all  that  is.  It  is  the  Eternal,  Immuta- 
ble Unity,  underlying  all  possible  differentiation  and  manifestation  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time  (mystery  of  mysteries!)  it  is  Itself  those 
differentiations  and  manifestations.  This  was  recognized  and 
pointed  out  ages  ago.  Plato  speaks  of  it  when  he  declares  that 
this  world  was  formed  of  "  the  Same  and  the  Other."  Such 
words  fall  almost  meaningless  upon  the  ear,  yet  out  of  the  "same" 
(the  Absolute)  the  "other"  (the  manifested  universe)  must  have 
arisen. 

Compared  with  the  Macrocosm,  Atman  represents,  in  man,  the 
microcosm,  the  Unmanifested  Logos,  the  Creative  Aspect  of  the 
Causeless  Cause.  It  is  the  Unmanifested  Verbum.or  Word.  It 
represents  the  conception,  to  use  words  which  are  almost  mean- 
ingless, within  the  Infinite  mind  of  those  finite  phases  of  itself 
which  are  to  be  enacted  upon  the  stage  of  the  phenomenal  Uni- 
verse. For  all  phenomena  are  phases  of  Deity,  and  must  be 
philosophically  so  recognized.  From  God  the  Infinite  is  born  God 
the  finite.  The  one  must  remain  for  ever  untouched,  unapproach- 
able, and  inconceivable — an  Absolute  Causeless  Cause.  The 
other  is  this  same  Infinite  Mind,  or  Causeless  Cause,  exhibiting 
itself  in  the  Infinite  Diversity  of  phenomenal  states  of  conscious- 
ness, which  Infinite  Diversity,  as  we  have  seen,  represents  the  only 


gS  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

manner  in  which  it  would  seem  possible  for  an  Infinite  Power  to 
manifest  itself  finitely.  It  is  the  strange  commingling  of  these  two 
aspects  of  the  divine  in  the  Universe  which  makes  Christianity ,  and 
indeed  all  theistic  religions,  so  unphilosophical.  Within  Jehovah, 
for  example,  are  blended  in  the  most  impossible  and  inconsistent 
manner  both  finite  and  infinite  attributes. 

But  this  is  a  digression.  At  any  rate,  Atman  represents  in  the 
microcosm  the  Unmanifested  Logos;  is  in  man  the  first  ripple  of 
differentiation  within  the  monadic  Ray  from  the  Absolute,  which 
constitutes  the  base  of  all  human  souls.  And  just  as  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  Universe  are  but  the  finite  aspects  of  the  Infinite, 
so  in  Atman  are  held  potentially  all  of  the  other  Principles,  which 
are,  indeed,  but  differentiations  of  this,  as  has  been  pointed  out. 
It  represents  the  Spirit,  or  the  father,  as  Buddhi  does  the  matter, 
or  the  mother,  or  as  Manas  does  the  differentiated  Universe,  or 
Son.  These  three  are  as  absolutely  indissoluble  in  Man,  the 
microcosm,  as  they  are  in  the  great  Macrocosm,  or  Universe. 
It  is  only  for  purposes  of  analysis  and  study  that  they  are  meta- 
physically divided.     But  this  division  is  metaphysical,  and  not  real. 

Buddhi  represents  the  Substance  Aspect  of  the  human  soul,  being 
both  the  vehicle  of  Atma  upon  the  one  hand,  and  the  conserver 
and  preserver  of  the  energies  of  Manas,  or  the  thinking  Principle, 
upon  the  other.  It  is  as  uncreate  as  is  Atman,  and  we  shall 
blindly  err  if  we  associate  with  it  any  of  the  ideas  of  substance  or 
matter  which  we  gain  from  contact  with  the  material  universe 
about  us.  The  universe,  indeed,  is  but  embodied  consciousness; 
and  in  the  Cosmic  Principle  of  Buddhi  is  recorded  and  stored  the 
infinite  wisdom  resulting  from  infinite  experiences  in  the  past. 
Similarly,  in  the  human  Principle,  Buddhi,  is  stored  all  the  wisdom 
and  power  arising  from  past  experiences  of  the  thinking  Principle 
with  matter.  For  it  would  seem  that,  after  the  first  and  primal 
differentiation  of  the  Absolute  into  Spirit  and  Matter,  and  the 
further  appearance,  or  differentiation  within  these  two,  or  from 
these  two,  of  a  thinking  Principle,  the  further  office  of  this  think- 
ing Principle  was  to  associate  itself  with  all  the  infinite  states  of 
finite  consciousness,  and  to  store  the  results  of  this  experience  in 
this  material,  passive,  cosmic  aspect,  or  Buddhi.     How,  then,  has 


THE    HIGHER   TRIAD — ATMA,   BUDDIII,    MANAS.'  99 

the  unstable   arisen   out  of  the  stable?     Ordinarily,  the  answer 
from  Theosophists,  as  well  as  scientists,  would  be,  "  By  evolution." 
This  is  not  true,  if  by  evolution  is  understood  the  ordinary  mean- 
ing given  to  the  word.     For  the  process  is  that  of  a  great  bestow- 
ing— not  a  pushing  up  of  monads  or  centers  of  consciousness  by 
some  unconscious  power  behind  or  beneath  them.      It  is  a  bestow- 
ing of  their  own  essence  by  higher  entities  upon  lower  entities; 
and  this  constitutes  the  fact  and  the  process  of  all  so-called  evo- 
lution.    All  consciousness   within  the  manifested  universe  is  the 
result  and  the  product  of  conscious  entities.     Alone,  Atman  may 
be  termed  a  sea  of  consciousness,  as  it  is  the  very  veil  between 
differentiation  and  the   non-differentiated.     The   manifested  uni- 
verse lies  to  the  hither  side,  and  in  that  manifested  universe  there 
is  no  consciousness  which  is  not  bestowed   by  a  conscious  entity, 
as  there  is  no  thought  which  is  not  the  result  of  a  thinking  entity, 
,and  no  passion  which  is  not  the  expression  of  a  passionate  entity. 
Man  has  seven  principles;  and,  in  seeking  their  origin,  Theoso- 
phy  declares  that  each  of  these  principles  was  bestowed  upon  him 
by  an  entity  higher  than  he.     There  is  no  postulating  the  stream 
as  rising  higher  than  its  source.      His  passionate  nature  he  gets 
•  by  association  with  entities  full  of  passion,  out  of  which  are  con- 
structed hisbody ;  and  he,  mistaking  that  passionate  consciousness 
for  his  pwn,  identifies  himself  with  it     Destroy  the  body,  and 
the    passionate    consciousness   'after  a  time  ceases,  although  the 
^thinkingrentity.does,  not  peris-h;  .showing  at  once  the  illusion  of 
such  an  assertion.      His  thinking  principle,  again,  is  the  result  of 
_the   bestowing  of  a,  portion  of  their  own  thinking  essence  upon 
him  by  higher  beings;    and. so  on,  throughout;  all,h)s  principle?. 
Similarly,  the  earth  is  bufcthe  clothing  of  a  great,  divine,  conscious 
entity,  who  assumes  its  matter  as  his  vestments.     That  matter  is 
full  of    countless  millions  of,  lower  .entities,  upon  every  one  of 
whom   the   higher  entity  bestows   by  emanation  .a  portion  of  his 
own  consciousness,  and. so  lifts  it  a  little,  in  the  scale  of  universal 
life.     Alter  having  experienced  the  consciousness  of  the  mineral 
kingdom,  for  example,  for  untold  ages,  the  individualizing  monads 
in  that  kingdom  assimilate  its  consciousness,  and  are  fitted  for  the 
reception  of  a  higher.     At  the  next  Round  there,  is  bestowed  upon 


IOO  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

them  the  consciousness  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  they 
assume  all  the  great  wilderness  of  form,  design,  and  beauty  of 
that  kingdom. 

They  then  pass  on  into  the  animal  kingdom,  and  finally  into 
the  human;  each  successive  step  having  been  due  to  a  bestowing 
of  its  own  essence  by  a  divine  progenitor.  Last  of  all  come  our 
Higher  Egos  to  perfected  animal  bodies'bestowing  upon  each  mind; 
for  the  bestowing,  at  first  diffuse  and  general,  has  at  every  stage 
of  the  process  become  more  definite  and  specific,  until  it  ends  by 
the  specific  incarnation  of  each  Higher  Ego  in  a  separate  animal 
body.  But  in  all  this  there  is  no  upward  pushing.  The  law  of 
compassion  roots  at  the  very  basis  of  nature;  and  if  the  ascent 
through  matter  seems  a  blind  pushing,  the  descent  of  spirit  is  a 
divine,  intelligent  compassion.  Our  minds  are  so  warped  by 
materialistic  teachings,  have  become  so  accustomed  to  its  mental 
formula,  that  we  unconsciously  think  in  these  channels,  and  so 
speak  of  a  blind  force  pushing  up  life  almost  as  ignorantly  as  our 
materialistic  opponents.  There  can  be  no  such  thing.  It  is  a 
divinely  compassionate  bestowing,  and  there  is  no  break  in  this 
law  of  compassionate  help,  from  the  lowest  form  of  life  to  the 
highest  god,  or  Dhyani.  Each  receives  from  some  entity  higher 
than  itself.  As  far  as  we  can  think,  as  wide  as  our  imaginations 
can  expand,  the  process  reaches,  until  the  mind  itself  reels  and 
lets  the  burden  fall. 

Buddhic  consciousness  may,  perhaps,  be  spoken  of  a  little  more 
definitely;  although,  as  stated,  its  conception  must  be  largely  meta- 
physical. Man  is  unable  to  analyze  it  from  his  present  stand- 
point because  it  is  so  greatly  higher  than  himself.  And  yet  this, 
which  is  at  the  basis  of  all  manifestation  upon  the  material  side  of 
nature,  which  is  the  vehicle  of  the  Divine  Atman,  or  Universal 
Consciousness,  can  be  thought  of  with  less  effort,  it  seems,  than 
can  Atman.  It  is  the  soul  of  the  universe,  the  physical  basis  of 
the  entire  Cosmos.  But  it  must  not  be  thought  of  as  substance; 
although  it  is  the  basis  of  substance.  It  is,  rather,  divine  con- 
sciousness, taking  substantial  form.  It  corresponds  very  nearly 
with  the  human  brain  in  many  of  its  aspects.  Upon  the  physical 
molecules   of  the  brain  is  written  the  physical  history  of  man's 


THE   HIGHER   TRIAD — ATMA,    BUDDHI,    MANAS.  IOI 

entire  life.  There  is  no  thought  which  has  ever  entered  the 
mind;  there  is  no  sensation  which  has  ever  penetrated  any  of  the 
avenues  of  the  senses;  no  vision,  however  minute;  no  fancy,  how- 
ever trivial,  which  is  not  registered  upon  these  substance  cells, 
and  which  is  not  capable  of  being  recalled  and  brought  again 
within  the  consciousness  at  any  time  before  the  brain  cells  are 
finally  destroyed.  So,  upon  an  infinitely  higher  plane,  this  which 
represents  the  material  aspect  of  the  Cosmos  becomes  the  brain 
of  that  Cosmos.  Upon  its  divine  tablets  is  recorded  the  history 
of  all  that  has  ever  transpired;  not,  perhaps,  in  all  its  minute 
detail,  but  the  effects  of  all  that  has  ever  taken  place  within  this 
Cosmos  is  here  conserved.  Buddhi,  or,  as  it  is  termed  in  some 
schools,  "Mulaprakriti,"  changes  as  the  worlds  and  universes 
change.  Just  as  a  man  may  modify  his  brain  by  his  thought,  so 
this  Great  Oversoul  of  the  universe  is  hourly  modified  by  the 
thought  of  all  differentiated  entities  within  it,  and  is  ever  ready  to 
respond  to  this  eternal  modification;  for  force  cannot  be  annihilated, 
energy  is  ever  conserved,  and  this  which  lies  at  the  very  base  of 
all  energy  must  give  back  that  which  it  receives. 

It  is  said  that  a  Ray  from  this  great  sea  of  consciousness  and 
substance  constitutes  the  human  monad,  because  it  is  at  the  base 
of  every  human  soul.  But  this  must  not  be  taken  too  literally, 
because,  as  pointed  out  in  the  beginning,  this  is  undifferentiated 
consciousness — is  impossible  of  differentiation.  That  which  seems 
to  differentiate  it,  which  causes  it  to  appear  as  though  it  were  sep- 
arate, is  the  Thinking  Princip'e;  and  the  soul  will  perceive,  as  the 
lower  nature  is  overcome,  and  it  penetrates  by  its  purified  sight 
into  those  higher  realms,  the  real  Unity  underlying  all  that  is. 
It  is  this  Unity  which  makes  possible  the  emanation,  or  the  eman- 
ating, of  its  own  substance  or  essence  by  a  higher  entity  upon  a 
lower.  It  is  this  Unity  which  makes  it  possible  for  all  men  to 
become  gods;  because  each  man  has  at  the  base  of  his  being  that 
divine  substance  and  that,  if  possible,  still  diviner  consciousness; 
and  it  is  in  the  power  of  each  one  to  unite  himself  to  this  univer- 
sal, eternal,  monadic  consciousness  by  maintaining  a  firm  hold 
upon  the  truly  spiritual  portion  of  his  nature,  the  Higher  Ego, 
and  assimilating  this  consciousness  which  stands  back  of  and  is 


102  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

himself.  So  shall  he,  if  he  succeeds  in  doing  this,  some  time  in 
the  eons  to  come,  firmly  establish  his  own  divine  being  upon  these 
divine,  immortal  planes,  and  he  will  indeed  find  that  that  which' 
is  at  the  basis  of  his  seemingly  mortal  nature  is  the  Creator,  the 
Preserver,  and  Regenerator,  of  this  great  Divine  Universe.  It  is- 
our  own  efforts  in  assimilating  this  higher  consciousness  which 
enable  us  to  pass,  step  by  step,  higher  in  the  process  of  universal 
becoming;  and  which  becoming,  though  now  it  may  seem  to  be 
the  process  of  a  blind  "evolution,"  will  some  day  be  found  to' 
have  been  divine  compassion  deliberately  lifting  lower  entities  to' 
higher  planes. 

But  the  subject,  as  stated,  passes  human  comprehension.  It 
leads  us  into  the  very  abysses  of  metaphysical  speculation,  and 
perhaps  conjecture.  We  can  not  be  sure  of  our  footsteps.  Of 
only  one  thing  we  may  be  certain,  and  that  is  that  as  it  is  possi- 
ble (and  we  can  prove  this  every  day  of  our  lives)  to  lift  this  lower, 
passionate,  striving,  sinning,  consciousness  to  higher  planes,  and 
thus  secure  as  our  own  more  divine  states  of  consciousness  in  the 
scale  of  being,  so  it  seems  reasonable  and  logical  that  it  is  possi- 
ble for  us,  step  by  step,  by  overcoming  all  that  is  low  and  passion- 
ate, to  slowly  but  surely  win  our  way  to  the  land  of  the  gods, 
from  whence  we  came  and  to  which  we  must  return.  Because 
the  process  of  the  human  monad  (to  speak  in  terms  which  mean 
almost  nothing)  seems  a  beginning  at  the  very  lowest  rung 
of  the  ladder  of  evolution.  In  some  mysterious  way,  life  from 
the  great  Fount  of  Life  descends  to  the  differentiated  aspect  of 
existence,  and  begins  as  a  center  of  differentiated,  but  pure,  con- 
sciousness. It  is  lifted  up  to  a  certain  point  by  a  great  Mani- 
fested Hierarchy  bestowing  upon  it  their  own  essence;  and  so, 
step  by  step,  it  returrrs  to  the  great  Source  from  which  it  eman- 
ated. But  in  this  journey,  which  has  been  termed  the  Cycle  of 
Necessity,  something  wonderful,  grand,  and  divinely  beautiful  has 
been  accomplished.  That  which  descended  conscious  from  the 
great  sea  of  consciousness  and  unreasoning  bliss  reascends  self- 
conscious;  and  this  it  is  the  mission  of  all  human  souls  to  accom- 
plish, and  is  the  object  of  this  journey  of  the  Soul  through  the 
Cycle  of  Necessity  bound  upon  the  Wheel  of  Rebirth.     For  as 


THE   HIGHER   TRIAD — ATMA,   BUDDHI,   MANAS.  103 

near  as  mortal  may  understand  the  Infinite,  this  seems  to  be  the 
object  of  existence — the  winning  of  self-consciousness.  Con- 
sciousness is  infinite.  It  is  at  the  basis  of  all  that  we  can  possi- 
bly conceive,  and  yet  there  seems  to  be  an  added  bliss  to  know 
that  we  are  conscious,  to  realize  that  we  are  divinely  conscious 
beings.  So  that  it  would  seem  that  the  object  of  all  this  trouble 
and  travail  in  these  lower  states  of  material  environments  was  to 
hammer  out  of  that  Divine  Spark  which  illumines  all  of  us  the 
spark  of  self-consciousness;  that,  having  indeed  descended, 
conscious,  we  will  reascend  with  all  the  glories  of  self-consciousness, 
and  be  able  to  act  a  divinely  self-conscious  part  in  the  great  har- 
mony which  is  rehearsed  throughout  nature  during  its  inconceiv- 
able eternities.  We  are  creating  unconsciously  now,  but  then  we 
shall  do  so  consciously;  we  shall  change  and  modify  the  globe 
that  we  live  upon  into  a  divinely  glorious  habitation.  At  that 
time  we  will  take  a  conscious  part  in  all  that  creation  which  we 
now  attribute  to  the  highest  gods.  We,  by  virtue  of  having  this 
Divine  Ray  from  the  Absolute  at  the  basis  of  our  natures,  have 
within  us  this  divine  potentiality,  because  there  is  no  force  within 
the  Cosmos  which  may  not  be  raised  to  its  divine  potency;  and 
the  fact  that  we  have  these  aspirations  shows  that  they  are  poten- 
tialities, and  that  we  may  realize  them  if  we  will.  The  question  is, 
Shall  we  accomplish  this  or  not?  Shall  we  make  the  fight  and 
win  for  ourselves  this  our  divine  heritage  or  shall  we  go  through 
almost  countless  ages  of  misery,  and  perhaps  lose  our  souls 
in  the  end? 

The  way  is  plain.  We  have  to  control  and  govern  the  con- 
sciousness which  is  in  our  passion-tossed  bodies,  and  when  that 
is  done  we  are  ready  to  take  another  step  higher,  and  so,  step  by 
step,  win  our  way  back  to  the  immortal  mansions  of  the  gods. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  DREAMING  SELF. 

C%N  THE  ordinary  human  life,  one-third  of  the  interval  between 
&  the  cradle  and  the  grave  -is  spent  in  sleep.     Since,  then,  so 
large  a    portion  of  our  existence  upon  earth    is  passed    in  this 
intensely  subjective  condition,  it  is  well,  as  Du  Prel  points  out,  to 
carefully  consider  its  relation  to  the  problems  of  human  conscious- 
ness.    Sleep  has  been  said  to  be  the  prototype   and  twin  sister 
of  death;  yet  few  realize  how  close  is  the  resemblance  between 
the  two  states  of  consciousness.     To  the  ordinary  person  deep 
sleep  is  simply  death  to  all  sensuous  existence.     It  is  a  tempor- 
ary   and  fleeting  return  to  the    subjective  side  of  existence,  in 
which  the  permanent  part  of  our  being  roots.     There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  center  of  consciousness  which  constitutes  the  real  base  of 
our  soul  cannot  be  annihilated,  and  that  it  has  no  lapses  of  con- 
sciousness, even  though  sleep  and  other  subjective  states  would 
seem  to  point  to  the  latter  fact.     The  apparent  lapse  is  produced 
by  two  causes.     One  is  the  complete  disconnection  of  the  environ- 
ing conditions,  vibratory  and  otherwise,  of  the  two  states,  and  the 
consequent  inability  of  the  lower  material  vehicle  to  register  and 
record  the  finer,  inner,  spiritual  experiences;   the  other  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  soul,  transported  rapidly  from  one  plane  of  conscious- 
ness to  another — or,  to  put  it  mathematically,  from  sensations  which 
are  conveyed  to  it  by  vibrations  having  a  certain  ratio  with  which 
it  has  become  familiar,  to  those  with  which  it  is  utterly  unfamiliar — 
is  unable  to  at  once  recognize,  classify,  and  translate  into  terms  of 
consciousness  the  new  conditions  and  differing   vibrations    with 
which  it  has  to  deal.     During  the  intervals  of  sleep  the  center  of 
consciousness  is,  of  course,  not  annihilated,  but  retires  of  necessity 
to  deep  interior  states  of  which  the  memory,  owing  to  vibratory 
changes  in  its  vehicle,  is  lost  long  before    the    material    plane 
is  even  approached.     Therefore,  sleep  in  its  relation  to  appar- 
ently dreamless  states  will  not  be  the  principal  subject  of  this 


THE   DREAMING    SELF.  105 

study,  but  rather  the   dreaming  planes   with  which  almost  the 
whole  of  mankind  is  familiar. 

What  is  it  that  causes  the  wonderful  phenomenon  of  sleep  ? 
Science  declares  that  it  is  due  to  the  exhaustion  of  nerve-centers 
within  the  brain  and  body.  This  is  no  doubt  true  as  explaining 
one  effect  by  another  effect,  but  it  is  no  answer  for  the  real  cause 
of  sleep.  Suppose  that  the  nerve-centers  do  become  exhausted 
by  long-continued  exercise — why  should  the  result  be  unconscious- 
ness instead  of  merely  fatigue,  as  is  the  case  when  muscular  fibre 
is  wearied  ?  Why  should  not  rest  from  thought  restore  the  equi- 
librium in  the  nerve-centers  without  this  mysterious  retiring  of 
the  consciousness  to  subjective  planes  taking  place?  To  all  these 
questions  science  offers  no  logical  solution.  Animals  sleep,  yet 
the  nerve-waste  of  many  of  those  which  even  sleep  the  longest — 
as  the  hibernating  family — is  so  small  that  the  nerve-exhaustion 
theory  completely  breaks  down. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  the  question  of  sleep  we  are  dealing  with 
a  problem  of  cycles  of  existence  upon  objective  and  subjective 
planes  of  being;  this  law  of  cycles  being  one  proceeding  out  of 
the  very  abysses  of  the  unknowable,  of  which  sleeping  and  wak- 
ing are  but  examples  of  its  immutable  action.  One  may  oppose 
his  will  for  a  brief  period  to  this  law  of  nature,  but  must  sooner  or 
later  succumb,  or  else  madness  will  ensue.  Occultism  declares 
that  the  modus  operandi  in  the  occurrence  of  sleep  is  that  the  life- 
currents  become  too  powerful  during  the  waking  hours  to  be  longer 
resisted,  and  that,  therefore,  the  soul  is  periodically  driven  to  seek 
subjective  safety  upon  interior  planes — a  phenomenon  whose-anal- 
ogies  may  give  a  faint  clue  to  the  action  of  the  life  Principle  upon 
all  planes  of  Cosmos,  and  consequently  to  the  alternating  cycles 
of  manvantaras  and  pralayas,  or  the  objective  and  subjective 
existence  of  universes  and  worlds. 

Let  us  take  as  a  preliminary  study  the  lowest  form  of  dream — 
that  which  may  be  classified  as  physiological,  or  dependent  upon 
the  lower  brain-mind  and  the  animal  functions  of  the  body, 
entirely.  These,  no  doubt,  often  arise,  as  physiology  claims, 
through  reflex  impulses  transmitted  to  the  brain,  and  caused  by 
indigestion,  uneasy  postures,  and   a   multitude  of  other    similar 


106  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

stimuli.  They  may  also  arise  out  of  a  sort  of  mechanical  action  of 
the  brain,  which,  temporarily  aroused  into  activity  in  some  portion' 
of  its  mass,  converts  the  slight  stimulus  into  a  kind  of  text  upon 
which  it  builds  a  whole  panorama  of  after  pictures.  Thus,  in  one. 
instance,  a  drop  of  water  falling  upon  the  face  of  a  sleeper,  whom 
it  seemed  instantly  to  awaken,  caused  him  to  dream  a  long  sequence 
of  thunder-storm,  shipwreck,  etc.,  during  the  fraction  of  a  second 
which  elapsed  between  the  impact  of  the  drop  and  his  awakening. 
But  the  important  point  in  even  these  low  and  sensuous 
dreams  is  nearly  if  not  quite  overlooked  by  the  ordinary  material- 
istic psychologist.  This  lies  in  the  fact  that,  however  absurd,  illog- 
ical, or  vicious  even,  is  the  dream,  there  is  of  necessity  an  entity 
who  dreams  that  dream.  The  ordinary  view  is  that  such  dreams 
are  purely  mechanical  actions  due  to  automatism  upon  the  part 
of  the  brain,  and  that  the  Ego,  upon  awakening,  perceives  them  as 
he  might  a  picture  upon  the  wall  of  his  chamber,  painted  during 
his  slumber.  But  this  is  an  entirely  erroneous  view.  These  pic- 
tures, however  distorted  or  unreasonable,  however  disconnected 
with  each  other,  are  the  creations  of  an  entity  possessed  of  crea- 
tive imagination,  even  though  this  be  only  temporarily  and  by 
reflection  from  a  higher  source.  It  would  be  just  as  easy  for  the 
picture  to  paint  itself  upon  the  wall  of  the  chamber,  upon  the  one 
hand,  as  it  would  be  for  the  reflected  picture  to  cast  itself  upon 
the  brain,  upon  the  other  hand — which  it  must  do,  unless  it  be 
the  creative  act  of  some  entity.  The  one  is  no  more  unreason- 
able than  the  other.  Every  picture  seen  in  a  dream  is  the  crea- 
tion of  the  will-desire  of  some  entity  or  other.  Since  the  entire 
absence  of  both  conscience  and  reason  from  these  low  sense- 
dreams  negatives  the  presence  of  the  rational,  conscience-guided 
soul,  or  Higher  Ego,  what  is  the  nature  of  the  entity  whose  crea- 
tions they  are,  who  perceives  them,  and  who  is  delighted  or  hor- 
rified by  them,  as  the  case  may  be  ?  Since  animals  dream, 
and  since  animals  have  synthesizing  centers  of  consciousness,  and, 
further,  since  animals  in  no  wise  differ  physically  from  man,  except 
that  man  is  an  animal  plus  a  reasoning  soul  within,  correspondence 
and  analogy  point  plainly  and  definitely  to  the  fact  that  a  human 
elemental,  an  entity  which  synthesizes  man's  animal   form  as  a 


THE   DREAMING    SELF.  IO£ 

lower  one  does  that  of  the  animals,  is  the  dreaming  entity  and 
center  of  consciousness  in  these  cases.  All  these  dreams  arc  the 
thoughts  of  that  entity.  No  longer  illumined  by  the  manasic  Ray 
from  the  Higher  Ego,  or  the  true  soul  having  almost  wholly  with- 
drawn its  influence  over  it,  this  kamic  elemental  thinks  and  imag- 
ines after  its  own  senseless  manner.  Having  no  reasoning  pow- 
ers, its  jumble  of  thoughts  are  not  recognized  as  unreasonable; 
and,  not  being  guided  by  the  warning  voice  of  conscience,  or  the 
Higher  Ego,  it  will  commit  in  its  imagination  the  most  silly  as 
well  as  the  most  heinous  acts  or  crimes,  without  remorse  or  even 
a  recognition  of  their  ethical  bearing.  Just  in  proportion  as  the 
dream  is  reasonable  is  the  influence  of  the  ray  of  Manas  apparent. 
That  there  is  an  entity  actively  thinking  out  these  dreams  the 
writer  chanced  to  discover  upon  one  occasion  by  actual  experi- 
ence. After  closely  observing  the  dreaming  state  for  many 
months,  it  chanced  that  in  the  process  of  awakening  at  one  time, 
for  a  brief  instant,  he  stood  apart  and  saw  the  working  of  the 
dreaming  imagination  within  the  recesses  of  his  own  dreaming 
brain.  The  latter  was  then  engaged  in  reveling  in  one  of  these 
sense  dreams,  and  he  perceived,  or  in  some  indescribable  manner 
recognized,  the  presence  of  the  entity  who  was  actively  employed 
in  thinking  the  thoughts  which,  upon  the  brain,  appeared  like  pic- 
tures thrown  upon  the  wall  by  means  of  a  magic-lantern.  The 
relation  of  the  observer,  the  observed,  and  the  thought-creations, 
was  clear  and  distinct  long  enough  for  him  to  recognize  that  these 
idle  dreams  and  fantasies  to  which  he  had  attached  little  or  no 
importance,  and  for  which  he  had  thought  himself  almost  wholly 
irresponsible,  were  not  a  passive,  drifting  panorama  over  which 
there  was  no  control  from  any  source,  but  were  the  active  thoughts 
and  created  images  of  an  entity  who,  in  that  brief  interval  of  time, 
stood  disclosed  as  not  only  deliberately  thinking  these  things,  but 
also  as  doing  them,  for  his  own  gratification,  as  certainly  and  as 
truly  as  the  writer  himself  ever  indulged  in  a  "day  dream"  for  a 
similar  purpose.  A  life  lesson  was  thus  learned  in  a  brief  moment, 
and  a  light  thrown  upon  the  relation  which  the  soul  bears  to  its 
human-animal  body  before  the  "I  am  myself "  of  the  writer  fused 
in  some  incomprehensible  manner  into  that  of  the  dreaming  entity 


108  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

and  the  thing  dreamed,  as  both  faded  from  view  in  awakening. 
For,  in  returning  to  his  body  from  the  mysterious  realms  of  dream- 
land, the  writer  had  caught,  as  it  were,  his  lower  self  in  the  act  of 
dreaming,  and  was  enabled  to  intelligently  view  and  understand 
the  process. 

Since,  then,  our  ordinary  sense-dreams  are  the  imagination  and 
thought-creations  of  a  reasonless  entity  with  whom  we  are  karmic- 
ally  bound  by  incarnating  in  these  human-animal  bodies,  it  fol- 
lows that  by  closely  observing  one's  dreams  there  will   be  found 
the  key  to  one's  average  mental  life.     For  this  entity  is  upon  the 
animal  plane,  and  is  very  far  from  having  the  power  to  create  of 
its  own  volition  the  things  which  it   dreams.     It  can  only  rum- 
mage for  these  among  the  pictures  and  impressions  stored  in  the 
brain  during  the  waking  hours  of  the  true  man,  or  those  in  which 
reason  is  active.     It  must,  then,  faithfully  reflect  the  mental  con- 
dition of  the  man.     The  general  tone  of  one's  every-day  thoughts, 
therefore,  will  reappear  even  in  his  most  senseless  dreams.     Idle 
fancies,  idle  words,  the  usual  things  seen  or  perceived  by  any  of 
the  senses  during  the  day — all  these  constitute  the  stock  from 
which  this  lower  dreaming  entity  draws  when  temporarily  aroused 
to  independent  activity  in  the  manner  pointed  out  when  speaking 
of  the  mechanical  causes  of  dreams.     The  man,  it  is  true,  is  not 
responsible  for  the  lack  of  sequence  and  reasonless  vagaries  of 
this  dreaming  entity,  but  he  is  responsible,  as  the  writer  fully 
believes,  for  the  substance  and  general  tenor  of  that  which  is 
dreamed.     Thus,  a  fit  of  unreasoning  anger  in  a  waking  moment, 
which  is  dramatized  at  night  into  a  murder  willfully  committed,  is 
not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  a  mere   added  sequence  of  the 
thought  in  the  waking  state;  murder  was  in  the  heart,  and  may 
have  been,  in  our  subconscious  thought,  actually  enacted  in  the 
daytime.     Or  the  murderous  thought  may  have  arisen  into  percep- 
tion as  a  suggestion  coming  from  this  lower  consciousless  animal, 
but  which  the  voice  of  conscience  and  of  reason  instantly  cast  out, 
and  yet  of  which  the  lower  entity  retained  the  memory  and  which 
it  carried  into  execution  when  opportunity  offered   in  sleep.     It 
is  just  these  lowest  thoughts,  having  their  origin  entirely  in  our  ani- 
mal nature,  which  are  the  food,  so  to  say,  of  the  animal  within  us; 


THE  DREAMING   SELF.  I0£ 

and  if  they  are  absolutely  prevented  from  arising  in  the  mind, 
then  such  dreams  will  surely  cease.  Remember,  all  dreams  are 
the  result  of  thought.  In  these  low  dreams  they  are  the  effect  of 
reflected  thought,  to  be  sure — of  a  power  borrowed  temporarily  by 
this  elemental  from  the  Lower  Manas,  or  brain  mind — but  they 
are  none  the  less  thought-creations.  Therefore  is  it  true  that  our 
dreams  are  really  reflections  of  our  ordinary  mental  states,  and  to 
change  our  life  is  to  change  our  dreams. 

More  than  this:  By  the  karmic  bond  between  our  souls  and  our 
bodies,  it  becomes  our  sacred  duty  to  humanize  and  rationalize, 
so  far  as  the  laws  of  evolution  permit,  this  lower  human  elemen- 
tal with  which  we  are  thus  karmically  associated.  For  it  will 
return  to  us  from  life  to  life  as  the  animal  substratum  of  each  suc- 
ceeding personality.  It  is  not  a  question  of  the  mere  tempor- 
ary association  of  one's  soul  with  passionate,  willful,  murderous, 
obstinate,  thieving,  proud,  or  other  undesirable  attributes  which 
we  find  in  our  lower  nature;  the  bond  is  of  almost  eternal  duration. 
Death  by  no  means  frees  us  from  the  bundle  of  sins,  passions,, 
appetites,  and  desires  which  are  but  the  normal  states  of  the  con- 
scious entity  with  which  we  are  thus  associated.  It  plainly  fol- 
lows us  into  Kama  Loka,  and  by  its  clamorings  and  ragings  earth- 
ward prevents  for  a  time  our  entrance  into  the  rest  of  Devachan,. 
as  was  pointed  out  when  dealing  with  the  Kama  Rupa.  It  passes 
into  its  condition  of  latency  at  the  close  of  its  kamalokic  stage,  to- 
re-emerge upon  the  physical  plane  clothed  in  a  new  physical  body 
when  the  true  thinker  returns  to  incarnation.  Thus,  the  warfare 
between  our  higher  and  lower  natures  goes  on  eternally,  until  one 
or  the  other  gains  the  victory. 

In  this  fact  is  to  be  found  the  explanation  of  the  teachings  in> 
the  "Voice  of  the  Silence,"  that  the  enemies  we  slay  in  this  life 
will  not  return  to  fight  us  in  the  next.  And  he  who  makes  no- 
effort  to  control  this  unruly  animal  within  him,  or  he  who  allows 
himself  to  be  subjugated  by  it,  will  return  to  earth  accompanied 
by  the  same  deplorable  faults  of  personality  with  which  he  left. 
The  fight  must  be  made;  the  victory  must  be  gained ;  and  there 
is  no  greater  mistake  than  that  of  Christians  or  Theosophists 
when  they  fancy  that  the  throwing-aside   at  death   of  the  lower 


IIO  SEPTENARY    MAN./ 

nature,  hard  to  control,  or  undesirable  to  be  associated  with,  ends 
that  association.  It  does  not.  "As  a  man  sows  so  shall  he  reap," 
and  as  he  builds  in  one  life  so  he  must  occupy  in  the  next;  and 
his  personality  will  not  be  a  new  one,  however  fair  and  innocent 
the  babe  which  represents  that  personality  may  appear.  Within 
it,  as  it  grows  older,  will  reappear  the  old  traits  of  character,  and 
the  old  contest  will  have  to  be  renewed,  the  old  sufferings  again 
undergone,  until  at  last  the  lesson  is  learned  that  the  lower  nature 
must  be  subdued. 

The  relation  which  dreams  bear  to  the  proofs  of  the  existence 
of  the  soul  can  only  be  briefly  hinted  at.     That  hint  has  already 
been  given   in  the  statement   that  a  whole   sequence  of  thunder- 
storm, shipwreck,  etc.,  was  dramatized  and  experienced  in  the  brief 
fraction  of  a  second  which  occurred   between  the  contact  of  the 
drop  of  water  and  the  transmission  of  the  sense-impression  to  the 
brain  of  the  sleeper.     The  rapidity  with  which  sense-impressions 
can  be  recorded  by  the  brain  is  subject  to  accurate  measurement 
as  to  duration.     Only  so  many  thoughts  can  be  visualized,  only 
so  many  things  seen,  during  a  given  time.      If  the  spokes  of  a 
•wheel    revolve    too  rapidly  they  pass  into  a  blur.     If  the   train 
•moves  too  fast  we  are  utterly  unable  to  count  objects,  such  as 
.  fence  posts,  along  the  track.     In  fact,  our  lives  are  measured  by  our 
states  of  consciousness.     We  can  live  only  at  such  a  rate.     We 

•  can  experience  only  just  so  rapidly.      If,  now,  we   find    that   the 
■  dreaming  consciousness  can  register  conscious    states  a  million 

•  times  more  rapidly  than  can  the  waking  consciousness,  it  follows 
:  that   that    consciousness  is  not  responding  to  the  fame   rate   of 

vibration,  is  not  functioning  through  molecular  vehicles,  and  that, 
rirrerefore,  the  human* soul  is  independent  of  its  body,  and   not  a 

•  mere  property  of  matter,  as  materialism  insists.     Let  each  one 
-  think  this  out  for  himself. 

The  key  of  the  kamalokic  state  after  death  is  also  furnished  by 
dreams.     The    condition   of   consciousness   is,  of  course,  not  the 

•  same,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  analogous.     The  man  who  dreams 
'  vague,  chaotic    dreams  during  life,  who  thereby  gives  evidence 

that  his   is   but    a  vague,  undisciplined,  chaotic    mind,  can    but 
i  expect  similar  chaotic  dreams  after  death.     And  he  will  be  fortu- 


THE   DREAMING   SELF.  HI 

nate,  indeed,  if  they  are  merely  chaotic.  For  if  he  has  failed  to 
subdue  this  animal  within  during  life,  if  he  has  been  governed  by 
his  lower  nature,  then  his  dreams  will  take  a  criminal  or  other 
horrible  tendency.  He  will  fluctuate  between  the  commission  of 
crime  and  its  detection  and  punishment.  For  after  death,  in  the 
kamalokic  condition,  we  shall  re-enact  our  old  passionate  life  and 
live  amid  the  same  unhappy  surroundings,  just  as  surely  as  that 
in  Devachan  we  shall  experience  and  enjoy  our  highest  ideals. 
And  this  lower  condition  renders  this  kamalokic  entity  peculiarly 
liable  to  be  earth-bound  and  to  haunt  mediums,  in  order  to 
re-experience  the  old  sensuous  delights.  But  this  is  a  subject 
which  has  been  dealt  with  elsewhere. 

Passing  now  to  a  higher  dreaming  state,  and  remembering  that 
all  dreams  are  the  result  of  stimuli  from  some  source,  it  is  evident 
that  stimuli  from  the  higher  nature  reach  the  dreaming  conscious- 
ness as  well  as  those  from  a  lower,  sensuous  source.  In  this  lies 
the  explanation  of  dreams  which  have  more  or  less  signification. 
A  high  thought  coming  from  above  may  not  be  translated  with 
all  the  purity  of  its  source;  but  just  as  the  drop  of  water  may 
cause  a  sequence  of  a  sensuous  nature,  so  the  impulse  arising  from 
a  thought  coming  from  the  diviner  portion  of  our  nature  may  give 

■  rise  to  a  sequence  or  dream  which,  more  or  less  faithfully,  follows 
-the  line  of  that  thought  or  impulse.  The  tendency,  of  course,  is 
-for  it  to  become  materialized  and  perverted,  and  this  is  why  so 

few  dreams  are  really  reasonable  and  helpful.     The  divine   Inner 

■Ego  may  strive  to  impress  some  coming  event  upon  the  lower 

brain  mind,  and  this  may  be  received  clearly  and  yet  dramatized 

■  into  a  panorama  of  apparently  non-sequential  pictures,  from  which 
the  dreamer,  upon  awakening,  is  able  to  gather  nothing.  And  this 
brings  into  view  the  fact  that  it  is  only  a  kind  of  transitional  con- 
sciousness between  the  waking  and  objective  condition  here  and 
the  equally  waking  and  objective  consciousness  upon  the  plane  of 
the  Higher  Ego,  that  can  be  truly  classed  as  dream.  For  it  must 
be  remembered  that  upon  its  own  plane  the  Universe  is  projected 
objectively   a  thousand  times  more  clearly,  perhaps,  than  is  the 

■  molecular  universe  projected  by  the  lower  Ego  upon  this  the 
sensuous  plane.     It  has  been  said  that  the  condition  of  conscious- 


U2  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

ness  at  either  pole  seems  like  dream  to  the  same  consciousness  at 
the  other  pole.     Thus,  our  earth-life  must  appear  as  a  chaotic  and 
more  or  less  unpleasant  dream  to  the  consciousness  of  our  Higher 
Ego;  while  its  consciousness,  upon  the  other  hand,  appears  to  be 
the  most  unreal  of  dreams  to  our  ordinary  waking  selves.     There- 
fore, it  is  only  in  the  fleeting  moments   of  passing  into  slumber 
and  of  awakening  out  of  it  that  our  real  dreams  occur.     In  deep 
sleep  there  is  no  dream  in  its  true  sense,  for  then  the  Ego  retires 
to  its  own  plane  of  real   being,  and  its  consciousness  there  can- 
not be   said   to  be  in  any  sense  that  of  dream.      Happy,  indeed, 
should  we  be  could  we  unite  our  lower  to  our  higher  natures  suf- 
ficiently to  pass  consciously  from  one  state  to  the  other,  and  bring 
back  those  precious  experiences  of  the  soul  in  so-called  deep  sleep, 
to  comfort  us  in  this  illusory  waking  consciousness  !     But  this  can 
only  be   accomplished   by   the   union   of  our  higher   and   lower 
natures.     It  requires  the  entire  subjugation  and   transmuting  of 
our  lower  principles,  and  this  conquering  of  the  lower  nature   is 
what  constitutes   the   Adept;    and   the   Adept,  it  is   said,  never 
dreams.     For  they    simply  paralyze  their  bodies,  and  pass  con- 
sciously and  intelligently  to  that  blissful,  inner  plane  where  their 
thoughts  become  actualities.     And  happy,  if  in  a  lower  degree,  is 
he  who  has  so  strengthened  his  will  and  so  controlled  his  lower 
nature  as  to  also  be  able  to  control  his  dreams,  even  though  he 
be  not  able  to  fully  preserve  his  waking  consciousness  upon  the 
dreaming  plane. 

Thus,  even  out  of  dreams,  unreal  and  fantastic  though  we  may 
regard  them,  is  to  be  learned  many  of  the  most  important  lessons 
of  life.  Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these,  aside  from  the 
necessity  shown  us  through  dreams,  of  thoroughly  conquering  and 
subduing  our  lower  nature,  is  the  avenue  they  afford  of  contacting 
the  divinity  within  us.  So  long  as  we  are  unable,  with  the  Adept, 
to  paralyze  the  body  at  will,  and  so  rise  to  the  diviner  planes  of 
our  being,  so  long  are  we  dependent  upon  the  sleeping  state  for 
our  transitory  returns  to  that  blissful  consciousness.  And  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  power  to  control  dreams  exists  one  of  the  first 
steps  towards  the  attaining  of  self-consciousness  upon  these  mys- 
terious, subjective  planes  of  sleep  and  death.     We  are  only  awake , 


THE   DREAMING    SELF.  I  13 

as  we  have  seen,  at  the  two  poles  of  our  being;  the  intermediate 
states  are  truly  subjective  and  dreaming  ones.  We  have,  in  the 
eons  of  the  past,  attained  to  self-consciousness  upon  this  sensu- 
ous, objective  plane;  it  is  evidently  directly  in  the  line  of  our  evo- 
lution, in  eons  to  come,  to  conquer  self-consciousness  upon  these 
inner,  astral  planes,  and  the  time  for  this  may  not  be  so  very  dis- 
tant. Who  has  not  dreamed  that  he  was  dreaming?  Who  has 
not  recognized  that  the  pictures  before  him  were  the  unreal  vaga- 
ries of  his  own  creative  imagination  ?  The  recognition  of  illusion 
is  the  first  step  towards  its  overcoming.  And  in  the  normal  state 
of  consciousness  afforded  us  by  the  dreaming  condition  we  find  a 
safe  avenue  whereby  to  seek  conscious  union  with  our  higher 
natures.  Yogis  and  mediums  bring  about  an  unnatural  transfer- 
ring of  their  centers  of  consciousness  to  inner  planes,  through 
trance  states  induced  by  their  own  will  or  that  of  another,  and  all 
such  practices  are  full  of  the  gravest  perils.  But  in  dreams  one 
may  hearken  to  the  voice  of  the  God  within  him  by  means  which 
nature  herself  has  provided.  Therefore,  it  is  not  the  foolish  waste 
of  time  our  materialistic  philosophy  would  have  us  believe  to  pay 
some  intelligent  attention  to  our  dreaming  states,  and  to  attempt 
to  exercise  at  least  a  moral  control  over  dreams  by  the  stern  dis- 
cipline of  our  lower  nature,  and  the  rigorous  cultivation  of  our 
highest  spiritual  faculties,  by  a  devoted  attention  to  the  "Voice  of 
the  Silence,"  which  is  that  of  our  own  conscience  during  the 
dream  which  we  fancy  is  our  waking  life. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PROBLEMS  OF  HEREDITY. 

gjj|AVlNG  pointed  out  at  some  length  the  complex  nature  of  man, 
q|  or  the  many  streams  which  unite  to  form  the  microcosm  of 
which  he  is  Regent  or  Rector,  it  becomes  pertinent  to  inquire 
more  particularly  into  the  relations  which  these  differing  streams, 
or  Principles,  bear  to  each  other  and  to  man  from  the  view-point 
of  heredity.  To  what  extent  is  man  indebted  for  his  mental, 
moral,  psychic,  or  physical  traits  or  qualities  to  his  parents,  his 
general  ancestry,  his  nation,  and  his  race?  And  these  inquiries 
may  even  broaden  out  into  the  relation  between  the  soul  and  this 
molecular  plane  of  matter — the  influence  which  matter,  per  se, 
exerts;  the  amount  of  free  will  or  choice  of  action  which  remains 
to  the  soul  once  it  incarnates  among  the  passionate  entities  of 
this  molecular  plane. 

The  "  Secret  Doctrine"  points  out  there  are  three  distinct  hered- 
itary streams  flowing  into  man — a  statement  which  even  a  super- 
ficial examination  must  verify.  For  the  evidence  of  purely  phys- 
ical heredity,  or  that  of  parent  to  offspring,  is  plainly  apparent; 
it  is  susceptible  of  the  "proof"  which  materialism  demands  when 
dealing  with  psychic  or  mental  problems — it  may  be  weighed  and 
measured.  It  is  equally  plain,  though  not  susceptible  of  the  same 
class  of  proof,  that  each  soul  conserves  and  carries  forward  that 
modification  of  character  which  is  the  net  result  of  its  conscious 
experiences.  This  constitutes  mental  heredity — the  assimilated 
results  of  personal  conscious  experiences,  which  is  as  impossible 
to  be  carried  forward  in  any  manner  except  by  the  personal 
experiencer  as  it  is  for  one  to  digest  another's  dinner.  In  any 
one  life  may  be  plainly  seen  this  conscious  conservation,  and  it  is 
equally  plain  that  it  is  carried  forward  life  after  life,  and  is  the 
basis  for  differences  in  so-called  "natural"  capacities.  The  third 
stream  of  heredity  is  purely  spiritual,  or  "monadic,"  and  with  it 
we  have  no  present  concern.     It  represents  that  necessary  immu- 


THE   TROBLEMS    OF    HEREDITY.  I  I  5 

table  base  upon  which,  in  common  with  all  manifested  life,  the 
human  soul  must  rest. 

The  influence  of  nation,  or  race,  or  that  exerted  by  the  entities 
ensouling  the  "matter"  of  the  bodies  of  any  particular  people,  is 
tremendous,  and  but  little  appreciated  by  the  ordinary  man.  Let 
us  suppose  an  extreme,  yet  possible,  instance — that  of  an  Adept 
incarnating  in  an  Navajo,  or  other  Indian  body,  in  order  to  get 
into  closer  touch  with  these  souls  the  more  effectually  to  aid  them. 
There  is  but  small  doubt  that  he  would  at  once  lose  all  his  Adept 
powers — would  become  an  Indian  to  all  outward  and  inner  appear- 
ance. He  would  be  a  great-hearted,  compassionate  Indian — one 
who  would  make  a  lasting  impress  for  good  upon  his  people;  but 
still  an  Indian!  And  having  voluntarily  and  consciously  bound 
himself  karmically  by  the  ties  which  he  must  perforce  set  up,  it 
might  be  many  weary  lives  before  he  could,  under  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  win  his  way  back  to  his  old  state  of  Adeptship. 
So  powerfully  do  race,  nation,  and  country  modify,  that  the  Jews, 
the  most  exclusive  and  race-proud  people  upon  the  earth,  perhaps, 
quickly  respond  to  these  influences.  The  German,  the  Polish, 
the  French,  the  English  Jew  we  all  know;  the  number  of  differ- 
ing types  are  only  limited  by  the  number  of  different  races  they 
dwell  among.  Therefore,  the  strongest  soul  must  yield,  to  a  large 
extent,  to  the  influence  of  race  and  nation.  In  the  case  of  the 
Indian,  he  would  be  shut  out  from  booklore,  for  instance,  and 
each  nation  would  present  differing  limitations,  which  of  necessity 
must  modify  his  conscious  experiences,  and,  to  a  degree,  his 
character. 

Let  us  enter  upon  the  study  of  the  problems  of  heredity  with  a 
clear  conception  of  the  fact  that,  like  all  other  phenomena,  they 
must  fall  under  the  action  of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect;  and,  fur- 
ther, that  every  change  in  the  evolutionary  progress  of  any  entity 
is  due  to  thought.  All  heredity  is  due  to  thought — is  the  conser- 
vation of  its  energies.  But  not  all  heredity  is  due  to  the  thought 
of  the  individual  soul;  much  comes  from  foreign  sources,  and  is 
the  result  of  the  karmic  action  and  interaction  between  man,  the 
unit,  and  collective  humanity.  To  this  latter  class  may  be  largely 
assigned  purely  physical  heredity,  for  here  the  karmic  relation  the 


1,6  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

unit  bears  to  parents,  nation,  and  race  is  adjusted.  The  type  of 
nation,  race,  and  family  is  imposed  upon  the  individual  unit  from 
these  respective  sources. 

We  have  seen  that  the  plastic  matter  of  the  Linga  Sharira 
yields  to  the  stronger  impress,  whether  this  is  self-generated  or 
comes  from  without.  We  have  also  seen  the  conflict  which  takes 
place  between  the  different  elements  entering  into  man's  nature 
before  the  final  karmic  adjustment  is  arrived  at,  and  the  soul  is 
placed  in  the  prison  house  of  the  body.  A  careful  study  of  these 
differing  elements  will  make  most,  if  not  all,  the  puzzling  problems 
which  confront  the  student  plain.  For  with  each  new  element 
there  enter  new  hereditary  influences;  each  element  brings  from 
its  own  past  that  conservation  of  its  energy  which  is  the  immuta- 
ble law  throughout  the  Cosmos.  And  Theosophy  does  not  segre- 
gate one  factor  in  the  Cosmos,  and  declare  that  this  alone  is  con- 
served— which  is  the  attitude  of  materialism  towards  force;  but 
declares  that  consciousness  as  well  as  force  falls  under  this  law, 
and  that  the  indestructibility  of  matter  is  but  another  mode  of 
stating  the  same  truth. 

These  differing  elements,  which  bring  over  from  their  past  that 
conservation  of  energy  which  is  recognized  as  heredity,  range 
from  the  divine  Higher  Ego,  upon  the  one  hand,  to  the  humblest 
"lives"  which  go  to  build  up  the  cells  of  the  body,  upon  the  other. 
Beginning  with  the  lowest  phase  of  purely  physical  heredity,  we 
have  to  take  into  account  the  influence  of  the  original  cell,  formed 
by  the  union  of  the  sperm  and  ovum  of  the  two  parents,  and 
which,  according  to  Professor  Weissmann,*  "determines,  alone 
and  unaided,  by  means  of  a  constant  segmentation  and  multiplica- 
tion, the  correct  image  of  the  future  man  (or  animal)  in  his  phys- 
ical, mental,  and  psychic  characteristics."  This  curious  and 
partially  correct  theory  further  supposes  that  such  "  germinal  cells 
do  not  have  their  genesis  at  all  in  the  body  of  the  individual,  but 
proceed  directly  from  the  ancestral  germinal  cell  passed  from 
father  to  son  through  long  generations."  It  breaks  hopelessly 
down  in  failing  to  account  for  the  first  appearance  of  this  everlast- 
ing cell,  and  in  ignoring  the  necessary  fusing  of  two  "everlasting 

*Beitrage  zur  Descendenzlehre .     Quoted  in  Secret  Doctrine. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  HEREDITY.  11/ 

cells"  at  each  conception — unless  one  accepts  the  Mohammedan 
view,  that  man  alone  is  immortal  while  woman  is  not. 

Without,  however,  digressing  further,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
multiplication  by  fission  of  this  germinal  cell  is  the  method  by 
which  the  entire  body  is  built  up,  as  far  as  its  outward,  molecular 
clothing  is  concerned.  The  "embryonic  tissue"  theory  of  cancer, 
advocated  by  able  medical  scientists,  is  founded  upon  a  recogni- 
tion of  this  genesis  by  fission.  One  can  easily  see  the  excessively 
minute  portion  of  the  original  plasm  that  would  be  found  in  any 
one  cell  after  millions  of  subdivisions,  yet  it  is  to  the  presence  and 
influence  of  this  infinitesimal  element  that  much  of  physical  hered- 
ity can  be  plainly  traced. 

Prominent  among  these  is  that  peculiar  tendency  of  the  cells  of 
the  body  to  yield  to  certain  diseases.  Very  few  diseases  are 
transmitted  from  parent  to  offspring  in  the  matter  of  the  germinal 
cell,  and  these  show  themselves  at  or  even  before  birth.  But  that 
impress  which  causes  the  body  to  yield  to  the  invasion  of  a  micro- 
bic  disease  (consumption,  for  example),  and  especially  at  about  the 
period  of  life  at  which  the  parent  was  affected,  comes  from  the 
taint  of  weakness  stamped  upon  the  cells  by  the  presence  in 
every  one  of  an  infinitesimal  portion  of  the  germinal  cell.  Can- 
cer, heart  disease — in  fact  all  those  diseases  which  have  been 
wrongly  attributed  to  direct  transmission — arise  in  this  way;  for  it 
is  not  the  disease  itself  which  is  passed  over,  but  the  tendency  to 
yield,  the  inability  to  withstand  attack,  which  is  transmitted 
undoubtedly,  and  the  only  physical  avenue  for  which  is  that 
unbroken  sequence  of  molecular  matter  handed  down  from  par- 
ents to  offspring,  and  which  is  really  "  everlasting"  in  that  it  rep- 
resents an  uninterrupted  physical  sequence  of  life  since  humanity 
first  clothed  itself  with  "coats  of  skin"  upon  this  planet. 
Through  this  avenue,  also,  are  transmitted  race  and  family  traits; 
the  dark  or  light  skin,  the  Caucasian  or  the  Negro  features,  and 
all  of  those  physical  peculiarities  which  seem  so  fixed  that  they  can 
only  be  modified  or  changed  by  the  introduction  of  the  blood  of 
another  race.  This  germinal  stamp,  repeated  generation  after 
generation,  molds  the  body  into  the  general  type  of  race  and 
nation,  and  is  largely  concerned  with  such   abnormalities  as  six 


I  IS  SEPTENARY   MAN. 

fingers  or  toes,  etc.,  although  even  here  the  influence  of  thought 
may  often  be  plainly  traced.  It  becomes  of  greater  importance 
as  we  descend  into  the  kingdoms  below  the  human,  and  is  the 
cause  of  that  repetition  of  form  and  function  which  obtains  here, 
and  which  becomes  an  almost  absolute  law  in  the  lowest  orders 
because  mind  is  absent,  and  the  entity  is  blindly  obeying  the 
general  evolutionary  impulse,  or  that  from  creative  Dhyan  Chohans 
having  in  charge  this  particular  portion  of  the  countless  work- 
shops of  nature. 

The  moment,  however,  that  we  pass  above  or  beyond  the  influ- 
ence of  this  "  everlasting"  matter,  we  have  to  deal  with  re-embodied 
or  reincarnated  entities,  or  those  which  constitute  man's  micro- 
cosm. All  of  these  are  mindless,  and  many  even  senseless. 
Therefore,  they  yield  to  the  stronger  impress  coming  from  above, 
whether  this  be  racial,  family,  personal,  or  individual.  Here  may 
be  classed  all  those  qualities  and  traits  belonging  to  the  person- 
ality which  seem  to  be  inherited,  or  passed  on  from  parent  to 
offspring.  The  same  passions,  appetites,  and  desires,  the  same 
tendency  to  repeat  similar  crimes  or  vices  which  have  brought 
the  descendants  of  criminals  into  such  deserved  ill-repute,  and 
which  criminal  taint  has  been  clearly  identified  with  inherited 
mental  or  physical  unsoundness  from  parents — all  these  are  to 
be  plainly  accounted  for  under  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  govern- 
ing the  re-embodiment  of  these,  (man's  microcosmic)  associates;  and 
chief  among  which  is  that  passionate  human  elemental,  with  its 
desires  and  appetites  flaming  up  under  the  light  of  intellectualiza- 
tion.  But  while  these  lower  associates  seem  to  yield  to  the 
thought  of  the  parents  in  reproducing  undesirable  mental  traits  or 
physical  peculiarities,  it  is  not  a  real  yielding.  The  tendency  to 
evil  is  in  them — brought  over  from  their  own  past, — and  the  par- 
ents only  give  the  bent  to  its  physical  expression,  or  mark  out 
the  particular  direction  in  which  the  muddy  current  shall  flow  for 
the  one  life.  That  even  upon  this  low  plane  the  personality 
inherits  from  its  own  past,  is  plainly  proven  by  the  innumerable 
instances  where  the  same  parents  have  given  birth  to  both  good 
and  evil  offspring. 

In  considering  these  lower  qualities,  as  well  as  many  of  the 


THE    PROBLEMS    OF   HEREDITY.  II9 

higher,  there  enters  an  important  factor  in  imitation.  Children 
are  adepts  in  this  faculty,  as  indeed  the  plastic  conditon  of  their 
minds  makes  a  necessity.  Many  a  psychic  trick  or  mental  habit 
which  would  seem  at  the  first  blush  to  have  been  surely  inherited 
arises  in  imitation,  and  is  confirmed  by  habit.  And  this  plastic, 
imitative  condition  of  childhood  can  and  ought  to  be  taken  advan- 
tage of  to  establish  habits  and  instill  principles,  if  even  almost 
mechanically,  which  shall  aid  the  soul  in  overcoming  evil  tenden- 
cies it  has  permitted  to  take  root  in  its  lower  associates  during 
some  past  life.  Herein  is  the  necessity  and  the  justification  for 
the  State  taking  charge  of  the  education  of  the  young,  and  provid- 
ing wise  and  virtuous  teachers.  This  is  one  of  the  many  duties 
which  collective  humanity  owes  to  each  of  its  units. 

In  this  struggle  of  the  soul  and  its  personality  with  its  physical 
parents  it  must  often  happen  that  the  latter  prove  the  weaker,  and 
a  particularly  strong  personality  will  thus  succeed  in  impressing 
its  own  characteristics  upon  the  new  body.  This  fully  accounts 
for  the  continual  appearance  of  children  who  resemble  neither 
parent,  as  well  as  for  that  hopeless  riddle  of  materialism — its  so- 
called  "  atavism,"  or  the  skipping  of  direct  ancestors  and  revert- 
ing to  an  older  type.  Reversion  to  an  original  type  in  the  lower 
kingdoms,  however,  is  but  the  throwing  off  of  an  artificially  estab- 
lished peculiarity  or  variation,  which  was  at  its  best  highly  unsta- 
ble and  outside  the  domain  of  the  true  evolutionary  processes. 

Most  important  of  all  hereditary  influences,  and  constituting  the 
reproach  of  science  and  the  despair  of  materialism,  are  those  men- 
tal traits  and  powers  which  the  soul  inherits  from  its  own  almost 
infinite  past.  Overwhelmingly  in  evidence,  constituting  incontro- 
vertible proof  of  the  existence,  nature,  and  powers  of  the  soul, 
this  record,  not  graven  in  matter,  and  soaring  above  all  taint  of  its 
influence,  is  ignored,  and  the  appearance  of  the  genius, — the 
philosopher,  the  poet,  the  inventor,  and  so  on, — is  sought  to  be 
accounted  for  in  some  unknown,  unreliable,  mysterious  "prop- 
erty" of  matter,  which  acts  in  defiance  of  the  universal  law  of  the 
conservation  of  energy;  or  else  is  attempted  to  be  explained  along 
mental  lines  by  prenatal  influence!  The  genius  of  Napoleon, 
according  to  these  wise  men  of  the  West,  arose  from  the  fact  that 


120  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

his  mother  was  a  camp-follower  and  his  father  a  common  soldier — 
conditions  which  have  obtained  since  wars  began,  but  which  failed 
in  all  the  innumerable  instances  except  this  one !  Yet  such 
philosophers  would  scorn  the  idea  of  this  not  being  a  law-governed 
Cosmos,  but  they  must  admit  that  this  "law"  acts  in  a  very  devi- 
ous, uncertain  manner.  Genius  defies  the  efforts  of  materialists  to 
account  for  it  by  any  appeal  to  paternal  transmission,  as  it 
equally  defies  those  of  Idealists  to  explain  it  in  the  same  way. 
The  straits  to  which  science  is  reduced  is  well  exemplified  in  the 
admissions  of  Professor  Proctor.     He  writes:  * 

"At  present  all  that  can  be  claimed  is  that  some  mental  quali- 
ties and  some  artistic  aptitudes  have  unquestionably  in  certain 
instances  been  transmitted,  and  that,  on  the  whole,  men  of  great 
distinction  in  philosophy,  literature,  science,  and  art  are  rather 
more  likely  than  others  to  have  among  their  relations  (more  or 
less  remote)  persons  above  the  average  in  mental  or  artistic  qual- 
ities. But  it  is  not  altogether  certain  that  this  superiority  is  even 
quite  so  great  as  it  might  be  expected  to  be  if  hereditary  trans- 
mission played  no  part  in  the  matter  at  all."  Forgetting  on  both 
sides  of  questions  of  which  they  in  reality  know  nothing,  the  sci- 
entists are  certainly  to  be  commended  ! 

There  is  no  theory  or  hypothesis  which  will  explain  the  differ- 
ences in  mental  traits  and  qualities,  to  say  nothing  of  other  differ- 
ences in  character,  between  individuals  (even  twins)  having  the 
same  parentage  and  other  environments,  except  this  which  recog- 
nizes that  the  soul  is  a  conscious,  thinking  entity,  superior  to  and 
independent  of  its  body  (only  as  this  is  necessary  to  relate  it  to 
molecular  or  physical  matter),  and  that  it  returns  to  earth  again 
and  again  to  complete  its  evolutionary  tasks  here.  What  these 
tasks  are  has  already  been  shown,  and  the  nature  of  the  soul,  the 
place  of  the  weld  between  it  and  the  body,  fully  gone  into.  It 
only  remains  to  point  out  that  here,  in  the  conservation  of  the 
conscious  experiences  of  the  thinking  ego,  or  soul,  is  to  be  found 
the  complete  solution  of  the  vexing  (without  this  solution)  prob- 
lems of  heredity.  It  is  but  a  shallow  philosophy  which  fancies 
that  a  portion  of   the  Cosmos  is  governed    by    unvarying   law, 

*  Hereditary  Traits. 


THE    PROBLEMS    OF    HEREDITY.  12  1 

while  another  portion  is  under  the  sway  of  mutable,  chance-acting, 
or  even  of  directly  opposite  laws  or  forces.  All  law,  of  whatever 
nature,  is  the  result  of  some  force — is  its  expression  or  mode  of 
manifestation;  and  therefore  mental  force  falls  under  the  univer- 
sal law  of  force  conservation.  There  is  no  escape  from  this  propo- 
sition, for  that  mental  energies  give  rise  to  and  are  directly  corol- 
lated  with  physical  dynamics  is  easily  susceptible  of  the  most 
direct  proof.  Arouse  emotion  by  thought,  and,  with  a  sufficiently 
delicate  instrument  attached  to  the  superficies  of  the  head,  the 
amount  of  force  generated  may  be  instantly  read  off  in  units  of 
heat.  That  heat,  light,  and  electricity  may  be  mutually  trans- 
muted into  each  other  has  long  been  known,  and  here  is  the  evi- 
dence that  mental  energy  uses  at  least  similar  modes  of  motion 
for  its  physical  manifestation.  Therefore,  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  fact  that,  as  these  other  forms  of  energy  are  undoubt- 
edly conserved,  mental  energy  must  fall  under  the  same  law  and 
be  also  conserved.  That  it  is  conserved  in  one  life  is  evidenced 
by  the  mental  growth  of  the  individual  during  that  life;  that  it  is 
conserved  life  after  life  is  equally  proven  by  the  phenomena  of 
genius,  or  of  its  antipodes,  imbecility.  For  if  ex  nihil  nihilo  fit, 
it  is  equally  certain  that  "  nothing  can  not  come  out  of  some- 
thing," either,  which  would  have  to  be  the  case  if  idiocy  were 
attributable  to  the  physical  parentage  through  heredity. 

Mental  energies  are  conserved,  and  brought  over  life  after  life, 
by  the  reincarnating  of  the  Higher  Ego  and  its  accompanying 
microcosm.  The  most  important  stream  of  heredity,  then,  is  that 
which  each  soul  inherits  from  its  own  past.  Under  the  law  of 
cause  and  effect,  which  is  but  stating  in  other  terms  the  law  of 
the  eternal  conservation  of  energy,  we  reap  exactly  that  which  we 
have  sown,  and  so  return  to  earth  with  that  character,  whether  lovely 
or  unlovely,  which  we  have  created,  and  which  is  but  the  conserv- 
ation of  the  conscious  energies  of  our  past.  National,  racial,  and 
family  heredity  are  but  the  karmic  relation  between  us  and  our 
past,  and,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  only  direct  the  current  of  our 
conserved  energies  into  appropriate  channels;  but  have  no  part  in 
the  creation  of  those  energies.  Therefore,  the  character,  the  abil- 
ities— the    imbecility,  the    mediocrity,  or  the  genius, — which  we 


V 


122  SEPTENARY    MAN. 

possess  we  have  inherited  from  ourselves,  and  from  ourselves 
alone.  No  other  theory  can  reconcile  the  circumstances  of  life 
which  surround  us  with  our  outraged  sense  of  justice.  The  babe 
born  with  a  transmitted  tendency  to  a  disease  which  cripples  and 
maims  its  mentality,  which  leads  to  insanity  or  imbecility,  does 
not  depend  for  such  an  evil  fate  upon  chance,  nor  upon  the  acci- 
dent of  birth.  The  inherited  disease  which  cuts  off  a  young  life 
in  the  glory  of  its  highest  promise  has  been  earned  in  the  past — 
is  but  the  conservation  of  the  energies  of  that  past,  and  is  not, 
can  not  be,  in  a  law-governed,  orderly  Cosmos,  the  result  of  acci- 
dent, of  blind  fate,  or  of  the  caprice  of  some  changeful  or  venge- 
ful god.  Under  the  inviolable  law  of  cause  and  effect,  the  soul 
returns  with  its  powers  crippled  or  expanded  by  its  own  actions 
alone.  The  race,  and  the  parents  even,  are  those  with  whom  it 
has  set  up  karmic  ties  in  other  lives,  and  it  must  share  in  the  herit- 
age of  limitations  of  all  kinds  which  the  matter  of  their  physical 
cells  demands.  The  very  forces  of  love  or  of  hatred  are  conserved 
and  bind  the  soul  to  the  same  family  or  persons  for  whom  it  has 
felt  these  emotions  as  surely  as  the  lower  forces  of  attraction  and 
repulsion  upon  the  molecular  plane  bind  the  planets  in  their  orbits 
about  the  sun.  There  is  no  accident  of  birth,  there  is  not  one 
atom  acting  by  chance  in  all  this  great  Cosmos,  but  with  unerr- 
ing certainty  each  cause  is  bound  up  with  its  effect;  the  two  are 
but  aspects  of  the  same  thing,  and  can  not  be  separated  in  real- 
ity, however  much  so  they  may  seem  to  be  by  time.  So  that 
man  can,  under  the  theosophic  view  of  heredity,  set  about  build- 
ing his  future  with  the  absolute  certainty  that  no  effort  will  be 
lost,  that  each  step  he  wins  upon  the  eternal  stairway  of  the  gods 
will  not  have  to  be  taken  again;  but  that  he,  and  he  alone,  will 
inherit  his  past,  be  that  past  evil  or  good. 


<$An  Epitome  of  (ph^osopl?^. 

Theosophy,  the  Wisdom-Religion,  has  existed  from  immemorial  time.  It  offers  us  a 
theory  of  nature  and  of  life  which  is  lounded  upon  knowledge  acquired  by  the  Sages  of  the 
past,  more  especially  those  of  the  East;  and  its  higher  students  claim  that  this  knowledge  is 
not  something  imagined  or  inferred,  but  that  it  is  seen  and  known  by  those  who  are  willing 
to  comply  with  the  conditions.  Some  of  its  fundamental  propositions  are: 
I. — That  the  spirit  in  man  is  the  only  real  and  permanent  part  of  his  being;  the  rest  of  his 
nature  being  variously  compounded,  and,  decay  being  incident  to  all  composite  things, 
everything  in  man  but  his  spirit  is  impermanent. 

Further,  that  the  universe  being  one  thing  and  not  diverse,  and  everything  within 
it  being  connected  with  the  whole  and  with  every  other — of  which  upon  the  upper 
plane,  above  referred  to,  there  is  a  perfect  knowledge — no  act  or  thought  occurs  with- 
out each  portion  of  the  great  whole  perceiving  and  noting  it.  Hence  all  are  inseparably 
bound  together  by  the  tie  of  Brotherhood. 
2.— That  below  the  spirit  and  above  the  intellect  is  a  plane  of  consciousness  in  which  experi- 
ences are  noted,  commonly  called  man's  "spiritual  nature"  ;  this  is  as  susceptible  of 
culture  as  his  body  or  his  int  llect. 
3. — That  this  spiritml  culture  is  only  attainable  as  the  grosser  interests,  passions,  and  demands 
of  the  flesh  are  subordinated  to  the  interests,  aspirations,  and  needs  of  the  higher 
nature;  and  that  this  is  a  matter  of  both  system  and  established  law. 
4.— That  men  thus  systematically  trained  attain  to  clear  insight  into  the  immateria',  spiritual 
world,  their  interior  faculties  apprehending  Truth  as  immediately  and  readily  as  physi- 
cal faculties  grasp  the  things  of  sense,  or  mental  faculties  those  of  reason;  and  hence 
that  their  testimony  to  such  Truth  is  as  trustworthy  as  is  that  of  scientists  or  philoso- 
phers to  truth  in  their  respective  fields. 

5. That  in  the  course  of  this  spiritual  training  such  men  acquire  perception  of  and  control 

over  various  forces  in  Nature  unknown  to  others,  and  thus  are  able  to  perform  works 
usually  called  "  miraculous,"  though  really  but  the  result  of  larger  knowledge  of  natura 
law. 
6.— That  their  testimony  as  to  super-sensuous  truth,  verified  by  their  possession  of  such  pow- 
ers, challenges  candid  examination  from  every  religious  mind. 
Turning  now  to  the  system  expounded  by  these  Sages,  we  find  as  its  main  points: 
!  _An  account  of  cosmogony,  the  past  and  future  of  this  earth  and  other  planets;    the  evolu. 

tion  of  life  through  mineral,  vegetable,  animal  and  human  forms. 

2.— That  the  affairs  of  this  world  and  its  people  are  subject  to  cyclic  laws,  and  that  during  any 

one  cycle  the  rate  or  quality  of  progress  appertaining  to  a  different  cycle  is  not  possible. 

3, — The  existence  of  a  universally  diffused  and  highly   ethereal  medium,  called  the  "  Astral 

Light"  or  "Akasa,"  which  is  the  repository  of  all  past,  present  and  future  events,  and 

which  records  the  effects  of  spiritual  causes  and  of  all  acts  and  thoughts  from  the 

direction  of  either  spirit  or  matter.     It  may  be  called  the  Book  of  the  Recording  Angel. 

4. — The  origin,  history,  development  and  destiny  of  mankind. 

Upon  the  subject  of  Man  it  teaches: 
I. — That  each  spirit  is  a  manifestation  of  the  One  Spirit,  and  thus  a  part  of  all.     It  passes 
through  a  series  of  experiences  on  incarnation,  and  is  destined  to  ultimate  re-union  with 
the  Divine. 


2. — That  this  Incarnation  is  not  single  but  repeated,  each  individuality  becoming  re-embodied 
during  numerous  existences  in  successive  races  and  planets,  and  accumulating  the  ex. 
periences  of  each  incarnation  towards  its  perfection. 

-3. — That  between  adjacent  incarnations,  after  grosser  elements  are  first  puiged  away,  comes 
a  period  of  comparative  rest  and  refreshment,  the  spirit  being  therein  prepared  for  its 
next  advent  into  material  life . 

4. — That  the  nature  of  each  incarnation  depends  upon  the  merit  and  demerit  of  the  previous 
life  or  lives,  upon  the  way  in  which  the  man  has  lived  and  thought;  and  that  this  law  is 
inflexible  and  wholly  just. 

5. — That  "  Karma" — a  term  signifying  two  things,  the  law  of  ethical  causation  (Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap),  and  the  balance  or  excess  of  merit  or  demerit  in 
any  individual — determines  also  the  main  experiences  of  joy  and  sorrow  in  each  incarna- 
tion, so  that  what  men  call  "luck"  is  in  reality  "desert",  desert  acquired  in  past 
existence. 

■0. — That  the  process  of  evolution  up  to  re-union  with  the  Divine  contemplates  successive  ele- 
vations from  rank  to  rank  of  power  and  usefulness,  the  most  exalted  beings  still  in  the 
flesh  being  known  as  Sages,  Rishees,  Brothers,  Masters,  their  great  function  being 
the  preservation  at  all  times — and,  when  cyclic  laws  permit,  the  extension — of  spiritual 
knowledge  and  influence  among  humanity. 

■7. — That  when  union  with  the  Divine  is  effected,  all  the  events  and  experiences  of  each  incar- 
nation are  known. 
As  to  the  process  of  spiritual  development  it  teaches: 

1. — That  the  essence  of  the  process  lies  in  the  securing  of  supremacy  to  the  highest,  the  spir- 
itual, element  of  man's  nature. 

2. — That  this  is  attained  along  four  lines,  among  others — 

(a)    The  eradication  of  selfishness  in  all  forms,  and  the  cultivation  of  broad,  generous 
sympathy  in  and  effort  for  the  good  of  others. 
(£)    The  cultivation  of  the  inner,  spiritual  man  by  meditation,  communion  with  the  Divine, 
and  exercise . 

(c)  The  control  of  fleshly  appetites  and  desires;  all  lower,  material  interests  being  deliber- 
ately subordinated  to  the  behests  of  the  spirit. 

(d)  The  careful  performance  of  every  duty  belonging  to  one's  station  in  life,  without  desire 
for  reward,  leaving  results  to  Divine  law. 

o. — That  while  the  above  is  incumbent  on  and  practicable  by  all  religiously-disposed  men,  a 
yet  higher  plane  of  spiritual  attainment  is  conditioned  upon  a  specific  course  of  training, 
physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  by  which  the  internal  faculties  are  first  aroused  and 
then  developed. 

4. — That  an  extension  of  this  process  is  reached  in  Adeptship,  an  exalted  stage  attained  by 
laborious  self-discipline  and  hardship,  protracted  through  possibly  many  incarnations, 
and  with  many  degrees  of  initiation  and  preferment,  beyond  which  are  yet  other  stages 
ever  approaching  the  Divine. 
As  to  the  rationale  of  spiritual  development  it  asserts: 

z That  the  process  is  entirely  within  the  individual  himself,  the  motive,  the  effort,  the 

result  being  distinctly  personal. 

2< — That,  however  personal  and  interior,  this  process  is  not  unaided,  being  possible,  in  fact, 
only  through  close  communion  with  the  Supreme  Source  of  all  strength. 
As  to  the  degree  of  advancement  in  incarnations  it  holds: 

I# That  even  a  mere  intellectual  acquaintance  with  Theosophic  truth  has  great  value  in  fit- 
ting the  individual  for  stepping  upwards  in  his  next  earth-life,  as  it  gives  an  impulse  in 
that  direction. 

2. — That  still  more  is  gained  by  a  career  of  duty,  piety  and  beneficence. 

o That  a  still  greater  advance  is  attained  by  the  attentive  and  devoted  use  of  the  means  to 

spiritual  culture  heretofore  stated. 


It  may  be  added  that  Tfaeosophy  is  me  mxij  system  of  religion  and  philosophy  which  gives 
a  satisfactory  explanation  of  such  problems  as  these: 
i.— The  object,  use,  and  inhabitation  of  other  planets  than  this  earth. 

2  —The  geological  cataclysms  of  earth;   the  frequent  absence  of  intermediate  types  in  its 

fauna;  the  occurrence  of  architectural  and  other  relics  of  races  now  lost,  and  as  to 
which  ordinary  sci.nce  has  nothing  but  vain  conjecture;  the  nature  of  extinct  civiliza- 
tions and  the  causes  of  their  extinction  ;  the  persistence  of  savagery  and  the  uivqual 
development  of  existing  civilization;  the  differences,  physical  and  internal,  between  the 
various  races  of  men;  the  line  of  future  development. 

3  —The  contrasts  and  unisons  of  the  worlds  faiths,  and  the  common  foundation  underlying 

them  all. 
4.— The  existence  of  evil,  of  suffering,  and  of  sorrow— a  hopeless  puzzle  to  the  mere  philan- 
thropist or  theologian. 
5.— The  inequalities  in  social  condition  and  privilege;  the  sharp  contrasts  between  wealth  and 
poverty,  intelligence  and  stupidity,  culture  and  ignorance,  virtue  and  vileness;    the 
appearance  of  men  of  genius  in  families  destitute  of  it,  as  well  as  other  facts  in  conflict 
with  the  law  of  heredity  ;   the  frequent  cases  of  unfitness  of  environment  around  indi- 
viduals, so  sore  as  to  embitter  disposition,  hamper  aspiration  and  paralyze  endeavor; 
the  violent  antithesis  between  character  and  condition;  the  occurrence  of  accident,  mis- 
fortune, and  untimely  death— all  of  them  problems  solvable  only  by  either  the  conven- 
tional theory  of  Divine  caprice  orthe  Theosophic  doctrines  of  Karma  and  Reincarnation. 
6.— The  possession  by  individuals  of  psychic   powers— clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  etc.,  as 

well  as  the  phenomena  of  psychometry  and  statuvolism. 
7.— The  true  nature  of  genuine  phenomena  in  spiritualism,  and  the  proper  antidote  to  super- 
stition and  to  exaggerated  expectation. 
8.— The  failure  of  conventional  religions  to  greatly  extend  their  areas,  reform  abuses,  re- 
organize society,  expand  the  idea  of  brotherhood,  abate  discontent,  diminish  crime,  and 
elevate  humanity,  and  an  apparent  inadequacy  to  realize  in  individual  lives  the  ideal 
they  professedly  uphold. 
As  to  the  extension  of  its  philosophy,  it  offers: 
1.— That  of  intellectual  inquiry— to  be  met  by  works  in  Public  Libraries,  etc. 
2.— That  of  desire  for  personal  culture— to  be  met  partly  by  the  books  prepared  for  that  spe- 
cific end,  partly  by  the  periodical  Magazines  expounding  Theosophy. 
3. — That  of  personal  identification  with  the  Theosophical  Society,  an  association  formed  in  1875 
with  three  aims— to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  Universal  Brotherhood;   to  promote  the  study 
of  Aryan  and  other  Eastern  literatures,  religions  and  sciences;   to  investigate  unex- 
plained laws  of  nature  and  the  psychical  powers  latent  in  man.     Adhesion  to  the  first 
only  is  a  prerequisite  to  membership,  the  others  being  optional.     The  Society  repre- 
sents no  particular  creed,  is  entirely  unsectarian,  and  includes  professors  of  all  faiths, 
only  exacting  from  each  member  that  toleration  of  the  beliefs  of  others  which  he  desires 
them  to  exhibit  towards  his  own . 
Membership  in  the  Theosophical  Society  may  be  either  "at  large"  or  in  a  local  Branch. 
Applications  for  membership  in  a  Branch  should  be  addressed  to  the  local  President  or  Secre- 
tary; those  "at  large"  to  any  Branch  President  or  to  the  General  Secretary,  Wm.  Q.  Judge, 
i44  Madison  Ave.,  New  York,  and  the  latter  should  inclose  $2.00  for  entrance  fee  and  50 
cents  for  diploma,  and  $1.00  yearly  dues.     Information  as  to  organization  and  other  points 
may  also  be  obtained  from  Secretary  Pacific  Coast  Corporation,  Mercantile  Library  Build- 
ing, San  Francisco. 

There  are  now,  1895,  one  hundred  Branches  in  the  United  States,  including  all  the  princi- 
pal cities,  among  which  may  be  noted  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  San 
Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Minneapolis,  Washington,  Cincinnati,  Boston,  Omaha,  San  Diego, 
Denver,  Salt  Lake,  New  Orleans,  etc. 


LIST  OF  THEOSOPEICAL  AID  KIUDEED  WORKS. 

-  ••-    - 
Which  may  be  obtained,  post-paid,  from 

The  Pacific  Coast  Committee, 
530  Golden  Gate  Ave.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Adventure  among  the  Rosicrucians, paper, 

50c;  cloth  $  .75 

Animal  Magnetism — Binet  and  Fere   1.50 

Astral  Light— Nizida 75 

Atlantis — Donnelly 2.00 

Bhagavad-Gita — Judge,  red  leather,   75c; 


morrocco     1.00 


Bhagavad-GitaMohini's   translation  and 

notes 

Bcehme,  Jacob,  Life  and  Doctrines  of . . . . 

Buddha,  Life  of — Lillie 

Buddha,  Life  of  the— Rockhill 

Buddhist  Catechism — Olcott 

Buried  Alive — Hartman cloth 

Christos — Buck ' 

Clothed  with  the  Sun,  paper,  50;  cloth. . . . 

Coming  Race — Lytton paper 

Compendium,  Raja-Yoga  Philosophy.    . . 

Death  and  After? — Besant 

Discourses  on  the  Bhagavad-'  ita 

Dreams  and    Dream-Stories — Kingsford, 

paper,  50c;  cloth 

Dreams  of  the  Dead — Stanton,  paper,  50c; 

cloth 

Echoes  from  the  Orient — Judge 

Elixir  of  Life— By  a  Chela paper 

Esoteric   Buddhism — Sinnett,  paper,  50c; 

cloth, 

Esoteric  Basis  of  Christianity,  part  1 

"  '*■    "  "  part  2 

Evolution  according  to  Theosop.iy 

Five  Years  of  Theosophy cloth 

From  the  Caves  and  Jungles  of  Hindustan 

— Blavatsky 

Gems  from  the  E  1st — Blavatsky 

Geomancy,  Principles  of  Astrological. 
Geometric  Psychology — -Betts  and  Cook . . 

Glossary,  Theosophi cal — H.  P.  B 

Golden  Stairs,  Tales  from   the   Wonder 

World— Waite 

Guide  to  Theosophv  (printed  in  India)  .  .  . 
Hints  on  Esoteiic  Theosophy  and  Idyll  of 

White  Lotus .paper,  50c  ;  cloth 

Idea  of  Ne. Birth — Arundale 

Imitation  of  Buddha,  The 

Incidents  in  Life  of  Mme.  Blavatsky. 

Indianapolis  Letters  on  Theosophy 

In  the  Pronaos  of  the  Temple  of  Wisdom 

— Hartman 

Isis  Unveiled — Blavatsky   

Jeho.sua,  Life  of — Hartmann 

Kabbalah  Unveiled — Mather 

Karma — Sinnett cloth 

Key  to  Theosophy — Blavatsky 

Letters  That  Have  Helped  Me 

Light  of  Asia   paper,  25c;  cloth 

Light  on  the  Path— M.  C vellum 

"  "       with  comments   from 

Lucifer,  pocket  edition cloth 

same,  with  comments paper 

Magic,     White    and     Black — Hartmann, 

paper  50c;  cloth 

Man,  Fragments  on  Forgotten  History.  .  .  . 
Memorial  Articles  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky.  .  .  . 
Modern  Theosophy — Wright,    paper,  50c; 

.' cloth, 


2.00 
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My  Books— H.  P.   B 

Mysteries  of  Magic — Eliphas  Levi 

Mystic  Quest — Kingsland 

Nature?  and  aim  of  Theosophy — Buck 

Nature's  Finer  Forces — Rama  Prasad   ... 

Neila  Sen paper  50c;  cloth 

Nightmare  Tales paper .  . 

Ocean  of  Thecsophy,  paper  50c;   cloth  . . . 

Occult  Science  in  Medicine— Hartmann . . 

Occult  Sciences  The — Waite 

Occult  World — Sinnett,  paper,  50c:   cloth 

Patanjali's  Yoga  Aphorisms — Am.  ed., 
red  leather,  75c;  morocco 

Pearls  of  Faith — Edwin  Arnold 

Perfect  Way   paper,  50c;  cloth 

Perfect  Way  in  Diet — Kingsford 

Philosophy  of  Mysticism   ...    ...  .2  vols. 

Posthumous  Humanity — D  Assier 

Problems  of  the  Hidden  Life — Pilgrim... 

Psychometry  and  Thought  Transference 
paper, 

Purpose  of  Theosophy — Mrs.  Sinnett 
paper  15c;  cloth .... 

Rationale  of  Mesmerism — Sinnett 

Reincarnation — Anderson,  paper  50c; 
cloth 

Reincarnation — Besant 

Reminiscences  of  H.  P.  B.  and  the  Secret 
Doctrine — Countess  Wachtmeister, 
, . paper,  50c;  cloth 

Rosicrucians,  History  of  the — Waite 

Sankhya  Karika  (with  commentary) 

Secret  Doctrine — Blavatsky 

Secret  of  Death — Edwin  Arnold 

Secret  Symbols  of  the  Rosicrucians 

Seven  Principles  of  Man — Besant 

Simon  Magus paper,   1.75;  cloth 

Song  Celestial— Bhagavad  Gita,  verse 

Songs  of  the  Lotus  Circle 

Soui  of  Things — Denton 3  vols. 

Sound  and  Music — Nahm 

Source  of  Measures — Skinner 

Strange  Story,  A— Lytton paper 

Study  of  Man— Buck 

Theosophy  or  Psychological  Religion 

Theosophy,  Religion,  Occult  Science   .... 

Theosophy  and  its  Evidences— Besant .  .  . . 

Things  Common  to  Christianity  and  The- 
osophy   

Three  Sevens— Phelons 

Through  the  Gates  of  Gold— M.  C 

Topics  in  Karma— Fullerton 

Topics  in  Reincarnation—Fullerton 

Transactions  Blavatsky  Lodge,  No.  1 .  .  . . 
No.  2 

Unknown  Life  of  Jesus  Christ 

Voice  of  the  Silence-.-Blavatsky,  red 
leather  75c;  morrocco 

Wilkesbarre  Letters  on    theosophy 

Wonder-Light  and  Other  Tales  for  Chil- 
dren— Ver  Planck 

Working  Glossary  for  Theosophical  Stu- 
dents   

Yoga  Sutra  of  Patanjali boards 

Zanoni— Lytton  paper 


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3.00 
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1-25 

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1. 00 
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7-5° 
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i-75 

•30 

•75 
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1. 00 
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•75 
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6.00 

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1. 00 

•25 


LIST  OF  THEOSOPHICAL  PUBLICATIONS. 


The  Path. 

A  Magazine  devoted  to  the  Brotherhood  of 
Humanity,  Theosophy  in  America,  and  the 
Study  of  Occult  Science,  Philosophy  and  Aryan 
Literature.  Edited  by  William  Q.  Judge.  A 
special  feature  of  The  Path  consists  in  articles 
giving  the  experiences  of  students  in  Occultism. 
Subscriptions,  8j\  per  annum,  post  free.  New 
York:  144  Madison  Avenue. 

The  Irish  Theosophist. 

The  third  volume  began  October,  1894,  and 
contains  articles  by  Jasper  Niemand,  William 
Q.  Judge,  Mrs.  Annie  Besant,  Che-Yew-Tsang 
and  others.  Publishing  office,  3  Upper  Ely 
Place,  Dublin,  Ireland.  Subscriptions  may  be 
sent  to  the  Path.  Price,  $1.00  per  year. 
Members  of  the  T.  S.  will  soon  find  it  indis- 
pensable. 

Echoes  from  the  Orient. 

A  broad  outline  of  Theosophical  Doctrines. 
By  William  Q.  Judge.  Attractively  bound 
in  light  cloth  with  colored  side-stamp.  50  cents. 

The  Bhagavad  Gita. 

Fifth  American  Edition,  revised  by  William 
Q.  Judge.  Printed  on  wood-cut  paper,  bound 
in  flexible  morocco  with  gilt  edges  and  round 
corners,  $1.00.  Flexible  red  leather,  round 
corners  and  red  edges,  75  cents. 

Letters  that  have  Helped  Me. 

Compiled  by  Jasper  Niemand.  Printed  on 
handsome  super-calendered  paper,  same  size 
page  as  the  Ocean  of  Theosophy.  Light  cloth 
with  olive-green  side  stamp.     50  cents. 

Patanjali's  Yoga  Aphorisms. 

An  interpretation  by  William  Q.  Judge.  Print- 
ed on  woodcut  paper,  uniform  in  size  with 
Bhagavad-Gita.  In  flexible  morocco,  gilt 
edges  and  round  corners,  $1.00.  Flexible  red 
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The  Voice  of  the  Silence. 

A  new  edition  from  new  plates,  on  wood-cut 
paper,  uniform  in  size  with  Bhagavad-Gita  and 
Patanjali's  Yoga  Aphorisms.  In  this  edition 
the  notes  are  printed  on  the  page  with  the  text 
to  which  reference  is  made.  It  also  includes 
the  Stanzas  of  Dzyan,  on  which  the  Secret 
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co round  corners  and  gilt  edges,  $1.00.  Flexi- 
ble red  leather,  round  corners  and  red  edges, 
75  cents.  • 

Twelve  Principal  Upanishads. 

Translated  into  English  with  notes  from  the 
Commentaries  of  Sankaracharya  and  the 
Gloss  of  AnAndagiri.   7iopages,  cloth,  $3.00 

Occult  Science  in  Medicine. 

Bv  Franz  Hartmann,  M.  D.  Contents:  Intro- 
duction. Chapter  I,  The  Constitution  of  Man ; 
Chapter  II,  The  Four  Pillars  of  Medicine; 
Chapter   III,   The   Five   Causes   of    Disease; 


Chapter  IV,  The  Five  Classes  of  Physicians; 
Chapter  V,  The  Medicine  of  the  Future. 
Cloth,  $1.25. 

Photographs  of  W.  Q.  Judge. 

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A  Study  of  Man 

And  the  way  to  Health.  By  J.  D.  Buck,  M.  D. 
Contains  chapters  on  Matter  and  Force, •The 
Phenomenal  World,  Life,  Polarity,  Living 
Forms,  Pianes  of  Life,  The  Nervous  System, 
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Insanity,  Involution  and  Evolution  of  Man, 
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Nature's  Finer  Forces. 

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the  Tattvas.  By  Rama  Prasad,  M.  A.  Con- 
tents: The  Tattvas;  Evolution;  The  Mutual 
Relation  of  the  Tattvas  and  of  the  Principles; 
Prana;  The  Mind;  The  Cosmic  Picture  Gal- 
lery; The  Manifestations  of  Psychic  Force; 
Yoga--The  Soul;  The  Spirit;  The  Science  of 
Breath;  Glossary.  Second  and  revised  edition 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

An  Outline  of  the  Principles 

of  Modern  Theosophy.  By  Claude  Falls 
Wright.  Willi  an  introduction  by  William  Q. 
Judge,  pp.  ix  and  188.  Chapter  I,  The  Ar- 
cane Philosophy;  Chapter  II,  Cosmological ; 
Chapter III.The  Planetary  World;  Chapter  IV, 
Anthropological;  Chapter  V,  Masters  of  Wis- 
dom; Chapter  VI,  The  Theo^phical  Society; 
Chapter  VII,  Conclusion."  Appendix  I,  The 
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Cloth,  $1.00. 

Things  Common  to 

Christianity  and  Theosophy.  Papers  read 
before  the  Aryan  T.  S.,  New  York,  Jan.  9th, 
1894,  by  Alexander  Fullerton,  H.  S.  Budd,  J. 
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Judge.     Price  10  cents. 

The  Philosophy  of  Mysticism. 

By  Carl  Du  Prel,  Dr.  Phil.  Translated  from 
the  German  by  C.  C.  Massey.  Two  volumes, 
octavo,  cloth,  $7.50. 

The  Source  of  Measures. 

Key  to  the  Hebrew- Egyptian  Mystery.  By  J. 
Ralston  Skinner.  Second  edition  with  supple- 
ment.    Octavo,  cloth,  $500. 

Songs  of  the  Lotus  Circle, 

With  Music.  Arranged  by  Tregina.  Fools- 
cap, bound  in  limp  linen  cloth,  50  cents. 

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Poems,  by  Jerome  A.  Anderson.  Neatly 
bound  in  cloth,  $1.00.'  Address  the  author, 
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For    sale    by  the    Pacific   Coast   Committee,    530    Golden    Gate  Avenue, 

San  Francisco,  California. 

lUir  Any  of  the  above  works  sent  by  mail  or  express,  charges    prepaid,   to 
any  part  of  the  world,   on  receipt  of   price. 


HE  INCARNATION. 


-A- 


STUDY*OF*THE.    HUMAN    .SOUL 

In  its  Relation  to  Re-Birth,  Evolution,  Post-Mortem  States, 
the  Compound  Nature  of  Man,  Hypnotism,  Etc. 

BY  JEROME  A.  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  F.  T.  S. 


CONTENTS. 

INTRODUCTION.     The  Nature  and  Origin  of  the  Soul.— The  three  Absolute  Hypostases— 

Consciousness,  Substance,  Force CHAPTER  I. —  The  Physiological  Evidence  of  the  Existence 

of  the  Soul. — No  Physiological  Basis  for  the  Unitv  of  Consciousness — Memory — Feeling,  Etc. — Me- 
chanical Motion  Cannot  Originate  Sensation.  .  .  //. —  The  Psychological  Evidence  of  the  Existence 
of  the  Soul. — The  Nature  of  Dream — Trance — Clairvoyance — Thought  Transference,  Etc  .  .  III. — 
The  Evolution  of  the  Soul. — The  Unit  of  Consciousness— from  Atom  to  God  by  the  Widening  of  the 
Conscious  Area  Through  Experience,  Etc.  . .  .IV. —  The  Individualization  of  the  Soul. — Centers  of 
Consciousness  Freed  by  Pralayas — The  Cycle  of  Necessity.  . .  .  V. — Reincarnation — Philosophic  and 
Logical  Evidence. — Failure  of  One  Birth  Theories — Life  only  to  be  Explained  Philosophically  by 
Reincarnation.  . .  .  VI. — Reincarnation — The  Scientific  Evidence. — Bulbs — Seeds — Metamorphosis 
of  Insects — Genius — Idiocy — Prodigies,  Etc. . .  .  VII. —  The  Composite  Nature  of  the  Soul. — The 
Seven  Aspects  of  the  One  Center  of  Consciousness.  . .  .  VIII. — The  Reincarnating  Ego. — The  Nature 
and  Functions  of  the  Higher  Ego  ...IX. — The  Personality. — The  Animal  Man — How  Related  to 
the  Divine  Man.... A'. — Post-Mortem  States  of  Consciousness. — Devachan — Kama  Loca  and  Nir- 
vana— Nature  of . . .  .  XI. — Hypnotism  and  the  Human  Soul. — Hypnotic  Processes  and  States  of 
Consciousness.  ..  .XII. — Objections  to  Reincarnation. — Loss  of  Memory  Explained — Other  Objec- 
tions Answered.  .  .  XIII. — Karma. — The  law  of  Cause  and  Effect  on  all  Planes.  . .  XIV. — Ethical 
Conclusions .  .APPENDIX  A. — Reincarnation  as  Applied  to  the  Sex  Problem..  'APPENDIX  B. 
Embryology  and  Reincarnation. — The  Nutrition  of  the  Eetus. 

— THE — 

*©ClEA]Sr    €>3F    THEOSOPHYli 

— BY — 

Wm.  q.  judge,  f.  t.  s. 

This  work  is  designed  to  give  the  general  reader  some  knowledge  of  the  most  important  Theo- 
sophical  Doctrines,  and  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  of  great  value  to  students  in  the  Theosophical  So- 
ciety. It  contains  17  chapters  and  gives  a  clear  idea  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Wisdom- 
Religion.    The  following  is  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  book  : 

Chapter  I  deals  with  the  general  aspects  of  Theosophy,  and  that  ever-interesting  subject,  the 
Masters.  . .  .Chap.  II — Is  a  concise  presentation  of  Evolution  and  its  records  in  ancient  chronolo- 
gies. . .  Chap.  Ill — Deals  with  our  Earth  more  particularly — shows  its  septenary  nature,  and  its  re. 
lation  to  other  planets  of  our  plane.    .  .Chap.  IV — Applies  this  septenary  division  to  man,  and  dealr 

with  his  "  Principles"  in  a  general  way.    .  .Chap.  V — Takes  up  the  Body  and  Astral  Body Chap. 

VI — Examines  the  natureof  Kama. . .  .Chap.  VII — Of  Manas,  or  the  Thinking  Principle;  all  togeth- 
er, forming,  perhaps,  the  clearest  explanation  yet  written  of  the  nature  and  functions  of  these  Prin- 
ciples...  .Chaps.  VIII,  IX  and  X  deal  with  Reincarnation  and  its  evidences Chap.  XI — With 

Karma Chaps.  XII  and  XIII— With  Post-Mortem  Existence Chap.  XIV— With  Cycles 

Chap.  XV — With    the  Derivation  of  Man,  the  Apes,  etc Chaps.  XVI  and  XVII— With  Psychic 

Force,  "  Spiritualism,"  and  allied  topics. 

Cloth,  $1.00  ;   paper,  50c. 

Mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 

THE     PHTH, 

144  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 

Or,  THE  P.  C.  COMMITTEE,  530  Golden  Gate  Avenue,  Mercantile  Library  Building. 
The  above  work,  containing  250  pages,  handsomely  bound,  sent  post  paid  on  receipt  of  price: 

Cloth,   (Blue  and  Gold,) $1.00. 

Same  in  Paper  Covers , -50. 

Address  the  Author,  JEROME  A.  ANDERSON,  M.  D., 

1170  Market  St.,  San  Francisco,  California. 


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